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HUNTING DOGS 



Hunting Dogs 



Describes in a Practical Man-- 

ner the Training, Handling, 

Treatment, Breeds, E,tc., 

Best Adapted for Night 

Hunting as Well as 

Gun Dogs for 

Daylight 

Sport 



BY 

OLIVER HARTLEY 



Published by 

A. R. HARDING PUBLISHING CO, 

. Columbus, Ohio 






Copyright 1909 
By A. R. Harding Pub. Ca 



24 889:0 



CONTENTS. 



Part I — Hunting Dogs. 

Chapter. Page. 

I. Night Hunting 17 

11. The Night Hunting Dog — His Ancestry 33 

HI. Training the Hunting Dog 39 

IV. Training the Coon Dog 49 

V. Training for Skunk, Opossum and Mink 59 

VI. Wolf and Coyote Hunting 65 

VII. Training for Squirrels and Rabbits 74 

VIII. Training the Deer Hound 80 

IX. Training — Specific Things to Teach 89 

X. Training — Random Suggestions from Many 

Sources 100 

Part II— Breeding and Care of Dogs. 

XL Selecting the Dog 107 

XII. Care and Breeding 116 

XIII. Breeding (Continued) 125 

XIV. Breeding (Continued) 133 

XV. Peculiarities of Dogs and Practical Hints 141 

XVI. Ailments of the Dog 146 

Part III — Dog Lore. 

XVII. Still Trailers vs. Tonguers — Music 157 

XVIIL The Dog on the Trap Line 168 

XIX. Sledge Dogs of the North 178 

7 



8 



CONTENTS. 



Part IV— The Hunting Dog Family. 

Chapter. Page. 

XX. American Fox Hounds 193 

XXL The Beagle, Dachshund and Basset Hounds... 203 

XXH. Pointers and Setters. Spaniels 210 

XXHI. Terriers — Airedales 216 

XXIV. Scotch Collies. House and Watch Do£5 221 

XXV. A Farmer Hunter — His Views 228 

XX VL Table of Technical Terms 242 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS, 



Page. 

The Fruits of Night Hunting 16 

The Court Jester of. the Nocturnal Tribe 18 

A Pure and a Cross-bred Coon Dog 20 

Veteran Coon Detectives 28 

Descendants from Jamestown Imported Hounds 32 

A Lover of Good Dogs 38 

"The Fox Hound is a Composite Animal" 41 

Fox Hounds — Graduates From the Training School... 43 

Typical Coon Hounds 48 

Capable Cross-bred Cooners 55 

Good Catch in Which the Shepherd Dog Figured Promi- 
nently 58 

Opossums are Easily Caught Alive for Training Pur- 
poses 61 

North Dakota Wolf Hounds 64 

Typical Western Wolf Hounds 67 

Termination of a Successful Chase 71 

Good Dogs Make Good Luck 73 

The Fair Sex are More and More Becoming Practical 

Nimrods 79 

The Deer Seeks Refuge in Deep Water 81 

Well Trained Hounds 85 

Good Friends Get Along Best 90 

Co-operation Between the Man and His Dogs Brings 

Results 99 

9 



10 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Page. 

Some Ideals 106 

Embryo Trailers 115 

A Versatile Ontario, Canada, Dog Family 124 

One-half English Bloodhound Pups 129 

Fox Hounds 131 

Some Young Hunters 132 

He Was Here a Moment Ago 164 

Here He Is 166 

A Group of Typical Sledge Dogs 177 

Sledge Dog — Photo from Life 184 

Rough and Ready Sledge Dog 187 

Worthy of the Name, Foxhounds 192 

Good Specimens 196 

Bloodhound 199 

"As Pretty As a Picture" (Beagles) 202 

True Dachshund Specimens . . .^ 205 

A Pure Pointer 209 

Royal Sports — Pointers in Action 211 

Setter 213 

The Fox Terrier — Useful in Many Ways 217 

Airedale 218 

Collie 222 

Shepherd Puppies 226 

Outline Figure Diagram 242 




Oliver Hartley. 



INTRODUCTION. 



•J BS if hunting- for profit, night 
■■I hunting for either pleasure or 
W I gain and professional liunting 
generally had no importance, 
writers of books have contented them- 
selves with dwelling on the study and 
presentation of matters relating solely 
to the men who hunt for sport only. 
Even then the Fox Chase and Bird 
Hunting has been the l)urden of the 
greater percent of such books. 

It remained for tlie A. R. Harding 
Publishing Co. (publishers of the Hunt- 
er-Trader-Trapper magazine and a num- 
ber of helpful and practical books on 
hunting topics), to appreciate the de- 
mand for books and reading matter 
adapted especially to the tens of thou- 
sands of hunters who make, or partial- 
ly make, their livelihood from hunting 
and trapping, as well as a million casual 
13 



14 INTRODUCTION. 

hunters and farmers of tlie United 
States and Canada. 

The keynote of success was struck in 
this direction by obtaining articles and 
letters from these very men themselves, 
written and printed in their own lan- 
guage, depending for favor on their ex- 
plicitness and practical value, borne of 
actual experience, rather than floAving 
language, high sounding conventionali- 
ties and impressive technicalities so 
dear to the hearts of the Bench Show 
enthusiasts. 

The title of this book quotes its ob- 
ject. To tell something of night hunt- 
ing, and especially to suggest how the 
ever necessary dog can best be selected, 
trained, maintained and utilized, is the 
consideration of first importance. To 
round out the subject all forms of 
hunting will receive some notice, and 
the various breeds of dogs Avill be so 
far dealt with, that their value and use- 
fulness in their given fields may be de- 
termined. Best of all, the contents of 



INTRODUCTION. 16 

this volume are based on the opinions 
and declarations of men wlio haxe had 
years of experience in the matters on 
which they presume to write. The 
Compiler does not assume authorship, 
the matter herein being very largely 
from articles which have appeared in 
Hunter-Trader-Trapper and elsewhere. 
Credit is hereby extended and our 
thanks offered to all writers whose ef- 
forts contribute to the sum total of this 
volume. 

If this book contributes to the suc- 
cess in handling of dogs or opens new 
avenues of recreation, sport and profit 
for any of its readers, we shall consider 
its mission has been fulfilled. 

Oliver Hartley. 



HUNTING DOGS. 

CHAPTER I. 

NIGHT HUNTING 

nIGHT hunting is a favorite form of hunt- 
ing sport the continent over. Prime 
factor of the joyous, though strenuous 
night quest is the 'coon, the court jester 
and Avit of the nocturnal tribe of small fur 
bearers. 

Owing to the scarcity of other game and 
general distribution of raccoon the country over, 
'coon hunting is gaining in popular favor, win- 
ning over many of the wealthy, city-dwelling red- 
bloods who formerly were content with more or 
less pleasant and successful sallies to the fields 
in the day-time. 

Consequentl}^ there is an increased demand 
for properly bred and trained dogs to afford the 
maximum of success and pleasure in this pur^ 
suit. With the ownersliip of dogs go the care, 
mainten^.nce and proper methods of handling 
these willing helpers. Surprising is the meager- 
ness of the information available to the average 

L> 17 



18 



HUNTING DOGS. 



hunter, though night hunting is an institution a^; 
old as the settlement of Jamestown. 

The craft of developing dogs and using them 
to the best advantage in this connection, has been 
by precept and example handed down from 
generation to generation. Much has been lost 
in this way and not so much accomplished as 
might have been attained by aid of the printed 
and pictured methods of today. Most certainly 
more attention will hereafter be paid to night 
hunting, and more painstaking records made and 




The Court Jester of the Nocturnal Tribe. 



NIGHT HUNTING. 19 

kept for the iip-growing practical sportsmen, in 
which direction the present volume is a long 
and definite step. 

Our task is to offer guidance and advice as 
to the dogs. Yet to do this clearly, the reader 
must know something of the nature and habits 
of the animals to be hunted and the effort in- 
volved. 

A southern gentleman of experience and 
training has the following to say about 'coon 
hunting : 

The 'coon is a wily little animal, and his 
habits are very interesting to note. He is a 
veritable trickster, compared with which the 
proverbial cunning fox must take a back seat. 
One of the 'coon's most common tricks employed 
to fool the hound is known among hunters as 
^'tapping the tree," and which he accomplishes 
in this way : When he hears the hound's first 
note baying on trail, he climbs up a large tree, 
runs to the furthest extremity of one of the 
largest branches and doubling himself up into a 
ball, leaps as far as possible out from the tree. 
This he repeats several times on different trees, 
then makes a long run, only to go thru the same 
performances in another place. Onward comes 
the hound, till he reaches the first tree the 'coon 
went up, and if it is a young and inexperienced 
hound, he will give the ^^tree bark" until the 



^ 



^« M-^ \ 




K 





A Pure and A Cross Bred Coon Dog. 



NIGHT HUNTING. 21 

hunters reach the tree, fell it, and find the game 
not there. 

All this time Mr. 'Coon is quietly fishing and 
laughing in his sleeve, perhaps a mile away. 
But not so with the wise old 'coon hound. The 
old, experienced 'cooner, with seemingly human 
intelligence, no sooner reaches the tree Mr. 
'Coon has ^'tapped" than he begins circling 
around the tree, never opening his mouth — 
circling wider and wider until he strikes the 
trail again. This he repeats every time the 
'coon takes a tree, until finally, when he has to 
take a tree to keep from being caught on the 
ground, the hound circles as before and, finding 
no trail leading awaj^, he goes back to the tree, 
and with a triumphant cry proclaims the fact 
that he is victorious. He is not the least bit 
doubtful. He knows the coon went up the tree 
and he knows he has never come down so he 
reasons (?) that the coon is there, and with 
every breath he calls his master to come and bag 
his game. When the tree is felled the fun be- 
gins. The 'coon is game to death. He dies 
fighting — and such a magnificent fight it is! 
The uninformed might suppose there would not 
be much of a fight between a 50-pound 'coon 
hound and a 20-pound 'coon. Well, there is not, 
if the 'coon hound is experienced and knows his 
business. Of course, the 'coon will put up a 



22 HUNTING DOGS. 

masterly figlit, and some time is required to 
put him out of business ; but tlie old 'coon dog 
will finally kill any 'coon. But if the fight is 
between a young or inexperienced dog and a 
full grown 'coon the chances are that you will 
suffer the mortification of seeing your dog tuck 
his tail between his legs and make for home at 
a very rapid and unbecoming rate of speed. 

To prove this, get a good 'coon hound and 
let him tree a 'coon ; have along your Bull-dogs, 
Bull Terriers, Pointers, Setters, Collies, or any 
other breed you believe can kill a 'coon ; tie your 
'coon hound, cut the tree, and let your fighters 
on to the 'coon, one at a time or in a bunch, and 
see them clay him. You will see the old 'coon 
slap the faces off your dogs, and the shortest 
route home will be all too long for them. 

Killing a 'coon appears to be an art with a 
dog, and, of course, much more easily acquired 
by a natural born 'coon hound than by a do^ 
of any other breed. A j^ear-old hound of good 
breeding and from good 'coon hound parents, 
can kill a 'coon with less ado about it than half 
a dozen of any other breed. It is in swimming 
that the 'coon is most difficult to handle. I have 
known several hounds to be drowned by 'coons 
in deep w^ater. The dog goes for the 'coon, and 
the 'coon gets on top of the dog's head. Down 
they both go, and, of course, the dog and 'coon 



NIGHT HUNTING. 23 

both let go their hold on each other. Again the 
dog grabs the 'coon, and nnder the water they 
both go. This is repeated, until the dog becomes 
exhausted, his lungs fill with water, and old Mr. 
'Coon seems to understand the situation exactly 
and seats himself firmh^ on top of the dog's head, 
holding him under the water, till outside as- 
sistance is all that will save him from a watery 
grave. 

As there is but little chance — practically 
none — to kill a 'coon w^hile he is swimming, 
the wise old 'cooner, on to his job, will seize the 
'coon, strike a bee line to the bank, and kill him 
on terra flrma, 

I once saw a big old boar 'coon completely 
outdo and nearly drown a half dozen young 
hounds in Hatchie Eiver, when an old crippled 
hound, with not a tooth in his head, arrived on 
the scene, plunged into the river and brought 
Mr. 'Coon to the bank, where the young hounds 
soon killed him. 

Another of the tricks Mr. 'Coon uses to ad- 
vantage when closely followed by the hounds, is 
to follow the meanderings of a stream until he 
comes to a log reaching across to the other 
bank ; then he runs to the middle of the log and 
leaps as far as he can out into the water, usually 
swimming down stream, as if he is not making 
for a den or a Wee in some other direction. This 



24 HUNTING DOGS. 

ruse invariably delays even the best of 'coon 
hounds, as, being at about full speed, they will 
run on across the log, and if the dogs know their 
job they will circle out until they again find the 
trail; but during this momentary bother, the 
'coon is not waiting to see what they are going 
to do about it. He keeps moving and I want 
to sa}^ that a 'coon is a much swifter traveler 
than many persons suppose. He delaj^s no time, 
but keeps everlastingly at it, and it takes a 
speedy hound to force him up a tree. 

The 'coon may be defined as being a dwarf 
bear. They have many points in common. The 
'coon can lie up in his den for weeks at a time 
during severely cold weather, without food or 
water. The onl}^ difference between the foot 
prints of the coon and those of the bear is the 
size. In shape and appearance they are exactly 
alike. The flesh, when cooked, tastes similar, 
and not one in a thousand could tell any dif- 
ference between cooked 'coon and cooked bear, 
if served in same size pieces. 

By nature the 'coon is a very selfish in- 
dividual. He deserts Mrs. 'Coon when his chil- 
dren are a day old and lets her provide for them 
as best she can. The young 'coons grow rapidly, 
and at the tender age of from six to eight weeks 
old they begin to accompany their faithful 
mother in search of food. Fishes, birds, rabbits, 



NIGHT HUNTING. 25 

Duts, acorns, berries and green corn are the 
principal dishes on the 'coon family's bill of 
fare. 

At first the little 'coons stay close to their 
mother's heels, but they grow more venturesome 
as they groAV older, and soon begin to make little 
journeys on their own account. This often 
proves their undoing Avlien dogs are about. Any 
sort of an old dog can tree or catch on the ground 
a baby 'coon, but this is an advantage no true 
sportsman will knowingly take. 

That a mother 'coon will even brave death 
herself to save her babies is evident to one who 
has studied the habits of the 'coon. When closely 
pursued by the hounds and she and her young 
are all comi)elled to go up the same tree, as soon 
as the hounds begin to bark fiercely and the 
hunters arrive and begin to chop on the tree or 
to try to shine their eyes, old mother 'coon picks 
an opening and jumps out of the tree and is 
usually caught, or run up another tree close by 
and then caught. But she has again saved her 
young, as in all likelihood the hunters will not 
go back to the tree where the little coons are 
serenely sitting on the leafy boughs, or never 
think of there being any more coons there. 

There are many reasons why the 'coon hunt 
is fast becoming one of the most popular of the 
manly sports'. The 'coon is found in many sec- 



26 HUNTING DOGS. 

tions of the United States. Other game is be- 
coming very scarce. The wealthy business man, 
the man of affairs who is tied to his desk six 
days out of the week, can own a 'coon hound 
and in the stilly hours of the night, after the 
day's turmoil of business, can enjoy a few hours 
of the most strenuous sport now left to us and 
witness a battle royal between his faithful hound 
and the monarch of the forest, the wily 'coon. 
Nothing that I can contemplate is more ex- 
hilarating or more soothing to the nerves than 
the excitement of the 'coon hunt. From the first 
long drawn note when the trail is struck until 
the hound's victorious cry at the tree, it is one 
round of excitement and anticipation. What or 
whose hound is leading? What direction will 
Mr. 'Coon take? What dog will be first to tree? 
And then the fight! It is simply great! And 
then showing the hide to the boys who didn't go, 
and telling them about it for days to come. 

The 'coon hunt calls for manhood. Tender 
weaklings cannot endure the exertions necessary 
to enjoy this sport. It is too strenuous for the 
lazy man or the effeminate man to enjoy. They 
shudder at the thoughts of donning a pair of 
heavy hip boots and tramping thru swamps and 
slashes, crossing creeks and barbed wire fences, 
thru briars and thickets, maybe for several 
miles, and the probability of getting lost and 



NIGHT^ HUNTING. 27 

having to staj all night. But to the man with 
nerve and backbone this is one of the enjoyable 
features. It affords great fun to get a tender- 
foot to go out for the first time and initiate him 
into the ^''coon hunters' club.'' The tender- 
foot will use every cuss Avord ever invented and 
will coin new ones when the supply of old ones 
becomes worn out and ineffective. He will cuss 
the briars, cuss the ditches, cuss the creek, cuss 
the fences, cuss the swamps, cuss the slashes, 
cuss the man Avho persuaded him to go, and 
finally cuss himself for going. But when the 
excitement of the chase is on and when the fight 
commences he becomes reconciled; and if good 
luck is had he is very likely to be the next man 
to propose another '"coon hunt." 

A half dozen hunts will make an enthusias- 
tic 'coon hunter of any able bodied man — and I 
might suggest that a half a thousand 'coon hunts 
will make an able bodied man out of any man 
It Avill throw off the waste matter and dead 
tissues of the body, cause deep breathing, arouse 
torpid and sluggish livers, promote digestion, 
and is a general panacea for all human ailments 
of both mind and body." 

(The foregoing contains much of value but 
is overdrawn even tho from the pen of a 
^'Southern Gentleman" who should be well 
versed in 'coon hunting. Now and then a 'coon 



28 



Hunting dogS. 




NIGHT HUNTING. 29 

will go up a tree and come down or even run 
out on a limb and jump off or may leap from a 
102: across a stream into the water. Such in- 
stances, however, are rarely done to fool the 
dog. Generally when such happens, the 'coon 
has been feeding, going up and dowm trees, etc. 
When a 'coon does go up a tree, jump to another 
and similar tricks to fool a dog, that animal has 
been trailed before and is apt to be an "old 
timer.") 

Added to this is the promise of other game, 
if the hunter is desirous of combining sport and 
profit The skunk and opossum are common to 
many sections of this country. They are less 
resourceful and gritty than the 'coon, and their 
taking is simply a matter of choice and method, 
rather than concern for opportunities. A dog 
trained to hunt 'coon will have no trouble at- 
tending to opossum and skunk, if his owner de- 
sires it. Very frequently the trainer does not 
desire that his dog pay attention to anything 
save 'coon. 

Still anotluu' profitable animal taken b}' 
night hunters is the mink. There is not so much 
sport in this brancli, however, as tlie dogs simply 
trail or locate them in their dens, and are 
captured by digging or friglitening them out, 
when they are dispatched by the dogs. 

A good mink dog will often locate a mink in 



30 HUNTING DOGS. 

the den during the day. If the den has more 
than one entrance, is not very deep in the 
ground, the animal will often run out by stamp- 
ing or striking a few licks with a mattock. Thr 
mink generally comes out at the entrance neai 3St 
the water (quite often under water) when it 
can be shot, if you are quick enough, or if the 
dog is an active one, caught. 

When hunting at night along streams, or 
places frequented by both mink and 'coon, it is 
sometimes difficult to tell, at first, which your 
dog is after. These two animals travel about 
the same along streams. Some dogs will not 
run mink unless especially trained while others 
take naturally to mink hunting. tJnless a dog 
is not afraid of water, he will never make a good 
mink dog (or 'coon dog either for that matter), 
as mink go into a great many dens both on the 
bank and in the water. 

Where the hunting is done in woods, con- 
siderable distance from streams or ponds and 
mink seldom travel, your dog may ^'pass them 
by" but if you should catch one in a trap and let 
him kill it, the chances are that you will have a 
mink dog. 

Again by hunting certain stretches of creek 
where mink frequent, your dog will soon learn 
that you wish him to hunt these animals. A 
mink holed is far from caught, especially after 



NIGHT HUNTING. 31 

night. If holed in the creek bank, the chances 
are that the animal will dart out into the water 
and escape to another den. 

The most successful mink hunting is done 
during the day by having your dog along and 
following the banks of creeks, lakes, ponds, etc. 
The dog locates the game and the animal is 
gotten out by methods already described. 



CHAPTEK II. 

THE NIGHT HUNTING DOG — HIS ANCESTRY. 



D 



OGS of almost any breed, from the uonde- 
scrii^t mongrel to the bred and developed 
hound niiiy be taught to hunt in the 
woods at night. However, their success 
is, in a general way, in proportion to their adap- 
tability for the work and the plentifulness of 
game. For instance, take a country raised dog 
of hound parentage, and he is as apt to make as 
good a night dog as a pedigreed, handsome hound 
which has grown up in the city, without oppor- 
tunity to verify by experience his instinctive no- 
tion of things. Everything else being equal, the 
w^ell bred hound should prove by far the better 
raw- material for a good night hunter. 

The ideal coon dogs of most experienced 
night hunters are the half bred fox hounds. Thus 
is enlisted the training of centuries to match the 
wits of the 'coon which was born Avily, and de- 
velops strategejn from experience and necessity, 
affording as exciting and pretty a contest (dog 
vs. coon )as sport provides. 

The more one knows of the hound he follows, 
the greater will be his enjoyment and success. 
3 33 



S4 HUNTING DOGS. 

He will avoid blaming the dog with his own mis- 
takes, and wisely refrain from trying to exact 
from the dog what by physique and breeding he 
was not intended by nature to do. 

How the modern fox hound descended from 
the blood hound and the coon hound from the fox 
hound is an interesting study of more or less 
importance in striking an estimate of the coon 
dog's prowess and abilities. It is not such a far 
cry from the exciting man hunt of other days 
to the coon hunt of the present. 

What we call the native American fox- 
hounds are descended from dogs brought over 
from England, Ireland and France. The set- 
tlers at Jamestown imported the hounds that 
spread out over the southern frontier, originat- 
ing the superb packs to be found throughout the 
South to-day. 

The imported dog has never proven a good 
performer in the chase, owing to very widely 
different conditions encountered. His value has 
been in cross breeding to give bone and substance 
to native breeds. 

-' Says one authority : By selection and a dif- 
ferent character of work, we have produced a 
lighter, faster hound than the ancestral type. 
Our hounds are required to go and search for a 
fox. That quality has become instinctive in 



THE NIGHT HUNTING DOG, ETC. 35 

them and it is an extremely necessary natural 
quality. 

What we have really done in this country 
A, ith the fox-hound is, we have created a new 
type. Our native hounds which are without- any 
near English or Irish hound crosses are not only 
faster than their ancestors, but they get about in 
rough country, quicker and with greater ease. 
The American bred dog, long accustomed to hunt- 
ing, may be readily developed to night hunting. 

There are some strains of native hounds that 
train easier than others. Hounds that have 
come down through an ancestry which have long 
been in large packs have certain fixed notions or 
instincts abount hunting that are more difficult 
to change than are hounds which have grown up 
singly or in couples. 

Whatever manner of hound the trainer may 
undertake to develoi) it is well for him to con- 
sider the dog's ancestry and the way in which 
they have been hunted. He will find if his hound 
is well bred that the ancestral influence will tend 
to assert itself. Knowing what is in his hound, 
the trainer will know better how to handle liim 
to bring him up to the highest possible degree of 
efficiency. 

There were many different breeds of the 
hound family existing in England, when the fox 



36 HUNTING DOGS. 

hound, the great grandfather of the typical night 
hunter under consideration, began to assume a 
fixed type and receive recognition. 

"A popular error" writes another authority, 
^into which many writers have fallen is to asso- 
ciate the fox hound with any one or two breeds 
of hounds for his common ancestry, for the fact 
is that both the English and American fox hound 
is a composite animal, descended from many dif- 
ferent varieties of hounds which have existed in 
the past." 

There are a number of- breeds of hounds in 
France to-day that cannot be intelligently traced 
to any peculiar origin and there have been a 
greater variety of hounds in the past, whicli have 
found the way into the kingdom by different 
roads. 

It will never be known exactly what hunting 
qualities the hounds of our crude forefathers pos- 
sessed or with wliat melody of tongue, accuracy 
of scent, or fleetness of foot tliej^ pursued game, 
which consisted, with now and then an excep- 
tion, of the stag, wild boar and wolf, until the 
gradual advance of civilization drove the larger 
animals from denuded forest and left the cun- 
ning fox as the logical object of especial attention 
to huntsmen, who have spared neither time nor 
expense to accomplish his death legitimately for 
nearly two centuries. 



ETC. 37 

Slimming up we are impressed with the fact 
that the perfect fox or coon hound is a superb 
physical being of most versatile and capable 
properties, subject to our beck and call, if we 
learn the language of the chase, before we at- 
tempt to tell him what is wanted. 

Let us go to the next important topic, Train- 
ing the Niglit Plunter, with due respect and hu- 
mility. Success in training a fine performer is a 
credit to a man; failure is a discredit. Heed 
well the advice of experienced men, and profit by 
their mistakes. 



CHAPTER III. 

TRAINING THE HUNTING DOG. 

TN training hounds, one should remember that 
they will always have a hobby for the first 
game they learn to hunt; therefore, we 
should be careful to start them first at the 
right kind as for instance : If you desire to have 
an all around hound that Avill hunt coon, fox and 
rabbit and to hunt each game well, and in order 
to succeed you must break him in on coon first, 
then when he knows the ^^A, B, C,'^ of Mr. Coon, 
you can break him on foxes and then on rabbits 
in the day time and when you will hunt coon he 
will pay no attention to the fox or rabbit even if 
he would see one in front of him, providing there 
are coons in that bush. 

If you desire to have a true deer hound, 
train him first on deer, then on foxes, but you 
must in all cases train them well on one kind 
before you start on another ; therefore, a hound 
thus trained will always hunt deer in preference 
to fox. The same would exist if the dog was first 
trained on the fox. 

Some people claim that it takes from three 
to five years to train a hound right. Well, this is 

39 



40 HUNTING DOGS. 

not always the case. Young hounds twelve to fif- 
teen months old are often taken from the city 
into the busli and in three days would hunt deer 
as well as other dogs of five and six years' train- 
ing. The reason for this is that these dogs take as 
naturally to hunting as ducks do to water. These 
dogs are born with the hunting instinct in them 
and being very intelligent, Avill start at once to 
beat a bush as well as an old timer, as soon as 
they have seen the game once they will remember 
it all their life and you can train them to hunt 
any kind whether it is a bear, deer, fox, etc. 

Of a necessity in treating on the general sub- 
ject of training hunting dogs, some suggestions 
are applicable to all kinds, while others have in- 
dividual bearing. Under the subject of this 
chapter will be given subdivisions relating to 
specific training for specific hunting in so far as 
required. 

There are some fundamental lessons that all 
hunting dogs should be taught to do and some 
things which he is not to do. 

Let him begin to follow you when he is three 
or four months old; take him through herds of 
sheep and cattle, and if he starts after them, 
scold him ; if he continues chasing them, whip 
him. I do not believe in whipping where it can 
be avoided, but if compelled to, do not take a 
club or a No. 10 boot, but a switch ; and I never 



TRAINING THE HUNTING DOG. 



41 



correct a dog hj pulling his ears for fear of liurt- 
ing his hearing, as a dog that is hard of hearing 
it> not an A No. 1 dog. Never set your dog on 
stock of any kind nor allow him to run after 
other dogs or house-cats. 

By the time he is four months old, he will 




'The Fox Hound is a Composite Animal." 



likely begin to run rabbits, but some do not com- 
mence until older. Let him run them as it will 
teach him to trail and harden his muscles, and, 
should you have more than one, it will teach 
them to depend on each other, and they will soon 
learn to go to other dogs when tln^y start a trail 
or pick up a loss. If you have a fox or coon hide 



42 HUNTING DOGS. 

to drag or a pet to lead, it will not do any harm, 
though I do not think it of much value as they 
soon learn to associate 3 our tracks ^Yith those 
of the fox or coon, and I greatly prefer letting 
them run rabbits as a mode of training them. 

By the time they are eiglit months old, take 
them out Avitli a slow dog that runs and barks a 
great deal, both trailing and running, and as 
soon as the fox is running, let your pup go, but 
do not let him go until the old dog has passed 
with the' fox. Should you let him go meeting the 
old dog he may take the back track, but if you 
wait until tlie old dog has -passed your pup, he 
will come in behind, and, if he is bred right, Avill 
go in and stay as long as he can find a trail to 
follow. 

If he should come out after a short run, keep 
him until the fox is tired ; then let him go again, 
and if he still continues to come out after a few 
times, don't fool with him, but try him for some- 
thing else. If your pup has been in good trim, 
and has come out three times on fair trials, there 
is very little chance of making a fox dog out of 
him. 

I have had pups of this kind Avhich I kept 
until they were two years old; have bought pet 
foxes, and let them catch and kill them, but 
never yet made a runner out of a dog that it was 
not born in. 



44 HUNTING DOGS. 

Should your pup go in and stay, don't run 
him too often unless he is near a year old. Never 
take him out unless he is well fed, and in good 
shape to run. After a race or two let him go as 
soon as the trail is struck, and after a few races, 
catch the old dog, after the fox is going, and see 
what the pup will do alone. Then take them 
out on a good day, let the old dog pick up the 
trail, and after the pups have started, catch the 
old dog and let the pups go alone, and if they 
trail, start and run that fox to a finish, that is 
all the pedigree they will ever need. 

When 3'OU turn your dog loose, don't run 
and yell and get' him so excited that he doesn't 
know what to do, just unbuckle his collar and let 
him go. If he does not understand going into a 
race, it will not help matters to excite him, just 
walk to where the fox has passed and he will 
likely take the trail, and will know better what 
to do the next time. 

When 3^our dogs are running and happen to 
lose the trail near you, do not run and call, try- 
ing to help them get started, for if let alone they 
are far more apt to pick it up and go on in good 
shape; by getting them excited and running wild 
the chase Avould likely end right there. 

My rule is this: Whenever I pull a dog's 
collar, he must look out for No, 1 without my 
going to show him. 



TRAINING THE HUNTING DOG. 45 

Should you not have an old dog to help 
train your pup, you can train him alone, but it 
is more trouble. 

If you have snow, lead your dog until you 
find a fox trail, then follow it, still leading your 
dog ; if there happens to be considerable scent in 
the trail, he may want to follow it, if so turn him 
loose, but follow him up and help him to start 
his fox. If there is no scent in the trail, lead 
your dog until you start the fox, then let him go 
and let him work for himself. 

Should you have neither snow nor trained 
dog, you will have more trouble, but I have made 
No. 1 dogs without either. 

If you know where foxes stay, go there, turn 
your dog loose, and he will start to running rab- 
bits; this will scare the fox up and your dog will 
likely cross its track; if he is a born fox dog, 
he will leave the rabbit for the fox every time. 
You may have to make several trips, but after 
you get one race, your dog will be looking for a 
fox chase, and will soon take a cold fox trail in 
preference to a rabbit. 

After you have trained your dog to running 
foxes or coon, you will wish to break him of run- 
ning rabbits; this is generally an easy matter, 
for a genuine dog prefers the fox or coon and 
some will quit it of their own accord. If not, try 
scolding him when he starts a rabbit. If that 



46 HUNTING DOGS. 

fails, whip him, but where foxes are plentiful, 
you will seldom have to do this. 

My pups are accustomed to the crack of a 
22 rifle, as I shoot near them while young, so 
never have any gun-shy dogs. 

There is just as much in feeding a running 
dog, as a running horse. Some say a light feed 
just before starting and I have heard some say, 
don't feed at all. Now for a grey fox, it does not 
make so much difference, as the chase will only 
last an hour or two, and sometimes not ten min- 
utes, but where it comes to an old red fox, — 
one that you start Saturday night and return 
just in time to accompany your wife to church 
next morning, it is quite different. 

A dog to do his best should be used to run- 
ning. He should have a few days' rest, and if 
his feet are sore, grease once each day with salty 
grease. At least three days before the race, drop 
all sloppy food and give rye or corn-bread with 
scraps from the butcher shop mixed in before 
baking. Feed liberally twice each day and if 
your race promises to be a hard one, feed extra 
before starting, some food that will give the 
greatest amount of strength, with the least pos- 
sible bulk. Then arrange to give your dog a good 
heavy feed as soon as he returns home, and he 
will be ready for the next race sooner than if 
compelled to go to rest hungry. 



DRAINING THE HUNTING DOG. 47 

Before closing, I will say something more 
with regard to breeding : — We often see where 
someone has pure bred Walker, Williams, Red- 
bone or Buektield Blues. Now to my understand- 
ing, these are strains of dogs, bred by southern 
fox hunters, 50 or 75 years ago, and to keep them 
pure, there must have been a lot of inbreeding, a 
thing I do not approve of. Now why would it 
not have been better for Mr. Walker to have se- 
lected one of his very best bitches and bred her to 
one of Mr. Williams' best dogs, then called the 
pups the "American Fox Hounds" — as grand a 
dog as ever put his nose to a trail? 



CHAPTER IV. 

TRAINING THE COON DOG. 

TN training, we have been told to drag a 
'coon hide, lead a pet 'coon, etc., but your 
pup soon learns to associate your tracks 
with the trail of the drag, and when you 
carry the 'coon hide he simply follows your track 
to where you start tine dr.:g again. Should you 
have a 'coon so tame that it will follow you, 
start out and tramp through the woods, along 
streams and just such places as 'coons frequent. 
Your 'coon Avill run logs, go up on the side of 
trees, in and out of the water, in fact will do 
just about as a wild 'coon would. After you 
have been gone for some time, have someone turn 
your pup on the trail and if he runs it, keep 
him a little later each time, and you will soon 
have a trailer out of him anyway. Should you 
have neither 'coon nor old dog, you can train 
jour pup without. 

In nearly all places where there are 'coons, 
squirrels and woodchucks (groundhogs) may be 
found also. Teach your dog to lead and when 
he is about eight months old, attach a light cord 
to his collar; then some good morning for 
4 ' 49 



50 HUNTING DOGS. 

squirrels, take him to the woods. Keep him 
until he gets sight of a squirrel, then drop the 
cord and let him go; he will likely see it run 
up a tree, and perhaps he will bark, but if not, 
do not urge him, but give him plenty of time; 
then take him to find another and if he does not 
get to barking, get one in small timber, where 
you can make it jump from tree to tree; if he 
does not bark then, he will never be much of a 
■coon dog. 

If he barks after he has learned to tree 
squirrels, take him to a woodchuck country. He 
will soon get to working after woodchucks and 
while they won't all tree, some of them will. 
Should he get one in a hole, hollow log or tree, 
get it for him if possible and let him kill it, and 
see that he doesn't get hurt much. If he trees 
one, shoot it out for him, and after he has got- 
ten a few, and trees another, go to Avhere you 
can see him, but do not let him see you, and 
watch until he starts to leave; then go to him 
and by so doing, he will learn to stay and wait 
for you. 

After you have a good dog for woodchucks, 
you may rest assured that he will tree a 'coon if 
he finds a trail. If it happens to be summer 
time, take him where 'coons abide and turn 
him loose. He will likely run rabbits, but when 
he strikes a 'coon trail, he will take it. As soon 



TRAINING THE COON DOG. 51 

as you know he is after a 'coon, keep after him 
as near as possible, but let him have his own 
way. If he trees it and barks, get to him as 
soon as you can, but do not urge him, for he 
will get to lying as soon as you want him to 
without any help from you. 

After he has barked awhile, encircle the tree 
with him; then if the 'coon has been up and 
gone on again, he will strike his trail, and, after 
a few times, he will learn to circle before bark- 
ing. If the 'coon is up and it is summer time 
or early fall, when 'coon hides are not prime, 
take your dog back from the tree, keep still, 
and unless it is a den tree, you won't have long 
to wait, for another 'coon chase, and by keeping 
your dog longer each time, you will soon have a 
cold trailer out of him. 

This may seem considerable work for some, 
but it takes work and time to make even a fair 
'coon dog. Should you have a good dog to train 
with, it saves lots of work, but even then it is a 
good plan to work early in the season, and tree 
your 'coon several times in one night, as you 
do not have far to go after the first tree. 

In breeding 'coon dogs, the same rule ap- 
plies as in fox dogs — if your dog is bred from 
a line of 'cooners, he will take to it naturally. 
Some one will say, I will take a house cat to 
teach my dog to tree. Well I have done that 



52 HUNTING DOGS. 

myself, but after cutting several good trees, 
only to get a house cat, I learned better. It is 
just as easy to break a dog from running cats, 
as rabbits, and more so. I do not consider a dog 
that will run and tree every house cat he strikes 
the trail of, a No. 1 'coon dog, no matter what 
his other good qualities may be. 

Years ago, when timber was more plentiful 
than now, I always trained my dog to take care 
of himself, when a tree was cut for 'coons, and 
I never had a dog get hurt, nor had many 'coons 
to get very far from the tree. 

They are easily taught by cutting small 
trees in the day time and making them keep back 
until the tree is down; but now, timber is get- 
ting rather scarce and valuable to cut for 
'coons. 

When a dog is trained for 'coon so that he 
is first class, he is valuable in dollars and cents 
as well as satisfaction. One of our good friends 
sets the value in this way, and we agree w^ith 
him, except that where one is training a dog for 
his own use, love of the pursuit and woods re- 
pays him in a measure for his trouble: 

^'A man ought not to expect to get a first 
class 'coon dog for five or ten dollars. In fact, 
one can't be trained for that price, not saying 
anything about his feed. In the first place stop 
and consider how many nights one has to be 



TRAINING THE COON DOG. 53 

taken out to get liim to understand running 
them, and to learn their tricks and to ,tree and 
stay treed. They may do this in a reasonably 
short time with another older, well trained dog 
to show them how to find the tree and keep 
them out there, but then take him out by himself 
and when Mr. 'Coon goes in the creek or around 
an old pond or bog your young dog lacks ex- 
perience and a year's work or more. 

Then there is the rabbit which he must be 
broken not to run, and a dog can always find 
their tracks before he can a 'coon. Now here is 
where the right kind of judgment must be used, 
as all dogs cannot be handled alike, and one 
may spoil a pup in trying to break him from 
rabbits. So taking everything into considera- 
tion, it is worth far more to train a dog for a 
first class 'coon dog than most people consider, 
— what it requires to train a dog, and what he 
should be worth when properly broken. 

Of course, it is not so much work to train 
a dog^ to run fox, as there is generally a lot of 
fox dogs one can turn in with, and that way 
get a young dog started and he will take to 
running them naturally." 

I think a good dog, either a fox hound, or 
one that has never run foxes, makes the best 
dog, altho curs or 'coon dogs are not to be kicked 
out, that is if they are good, true hunters. I 



54 HUNTING DOGS. 

wouldn't advise trying to train a liound with a 
ciir unless he is an old 'coon dog. Try and get 
your dog on a 'coon right in the start, and do 
not let him fight too much the first time, unless 
he is an extra fighter. Do not let your dog 
stay out hunting when the other dogs have treed 
a 'coon; make him come in and bark up the 
tree. Always climb the tree for your dog and 
get what he has, no matter if it takes until day- 
light. 

When I own young dogs, I always train 
them myself. I never permit a stranger to 
handle them. It is all right for strangers to 
handle the old dogs once they are trained but 
the hunter who wishes to have good dogs should 
train them himself or have a man wJio 
thoroughly understands the proper way to use 
young dogs. It is a very easy matter to spoil a 
dog when you do not know exactly how to pro- 
ceed. 

On the question of the proper age at which 
to begin training a hound, a successful Min- 
nesota trainer takes issue with those who ad- 
vise taking the pup to field at eight or ten 
months of age. He writes in part : ''I disagree 
with those who advise the early initiation of 
the pup. Any kind of fairly well bred pup will 
run, not only at 10 months, but at 5, 6 or 7 
months, but the point to consider is, will a dog 





Capable Cross-bred Cooners. 



56 HUNTING DOGS. 

put at hard work at such age, become a hardy 
one? Will he develop himself as well as if he 
had been given a chance to grow some bones? 
1 say no; put a colt at hard work at 2 or 3 
years old, will he ever be the horse which he 
would have been, if he had onlj been broken at 
4 or 5 years old? Every horse breeder knows 
that if he wants a good roadster, he must give 
him a chance to grow, then he will not be afraid 
to cover 60 or more miles in a day with that 
horse ; not only this but he will get many times 
the price for that horse as for his brother 
which was put to work two years earlier. I 
have bred horses and know of what I speaK. 

There are many reasons why a sportsman 
should not start to train his dog to hunt before 
he is full grown, that is at least not until he is 
12 to 15 months old. Before that age, a pup 
may have the will but he has not the strength 
to cover the ground of an old dog. A man who 
has a valuable pup should wait until he is 
capable to stand hardships, and until he has also 
a good knowledge box. In allowing a pup of 
6, 7, 8 or 10 months to hunt, he will learn more 
bad tricks than good ones, such as to remain in 
the bush longer than necessary, and soon become 
a long record dog. The risk is great that he 
will get lost, or if not, will return with swollen 
feet and legs if he ran at all, also be chilled and 



TnAINiNG THE COON DOG. 57 

be rewarded Avith a fine dose of distemper. This 
is often the cause why so many young dogs die 
with distemper or of some otlier lingering death, 
but if a man gives time to his dog to develop 
and get strong, the chance is, should he ever 
get distemper, it would be but a slight attack 
from which he will soon recover." 

We take it, however, that our well informed 
friend does not mean to imply that a pup should 
not be taken afield and given a kindergarten 
course earlier than a year old. His contention 
is, no doubt, that the pup should not be per- 
mitted to over exert himself or to be thrown too 
much on his own resources. 



1 






1 













bo 

O 

Q 






O 



CHAPTER V. 

TRAINING FOR SKUNK^ OPOSSUM AND MINK. 

^pwLL the foregoing has more or less appli- 
mJ cation to the present topic. We are 
W I still dealing wl!th the nocturnal wan- 
•^ ■ derers. Occasionally any of the above 
may be discovered abroad in the full glare of 
day. Some hunters successfully locate them, 
by the aid of dogs, in their dens or burrows and 
capture them in the day-time. This is a cut 
and dried operation that requires none of the re- 
sourceful tactics of man and dog in the chase, 
and is, therefore, dismissed from the discussion. 
Now, what are the dog's duties? The mat- 
ter of still hunters vs. tonguers, being of such 
variance of opinion, it will be discussed in a 
subsequent and separate chapter. 

Having impressed your dog with the fact 
that you want him to look out for skunk, possum 
and mink, as well as 'coon, the next point of im- 
portance is to insist on the dog staying with 
the quarry and barking until you arrive; also 
not to take hold until the word is given as the 
hide is apt to be all chewed up and full of holes 
if the dog is too long and too vigorous in the 

59 



60 HUNTING DOG^. 

task. Many hunters pick up many of the skunk 
on the field, without even being touched by the 
dogs. 

In this connection a contributor writes: 
"We Avalk right up to the skunks and pick them 
up by the tails; then hit them on the head 
with a club and kill them or put them in the 
bag and take them home alive, as the occasion 
may suit." 

"Now, I won't tell that I can catch skunks 
without getting scented, but will say this, we 
have caught hundreds by the tail, and after 
lifting them clear off the ground, never have 
been scented by them. As I said before, I go for 
the business end of it, and am not afraid to get 
some scent on me as long as I don't get it in 
my eyes. If you get it in your eyes, it feels 
about as if you had horse-radish or hot water 
in them for the next ten minutes, which is not 
altogether pleasant." 

The skunk is a foolish, unresourceful animal 
and were it not for its natural, unique means 
of defense, would be utterly at the mercy of 
dogs and hunters. Many dogs object to the 
scent and will trail and bring to bay a skunk 
only with reluctance. Only those who hunt for 
profit, care to take the skunk, and he must needs 
learn the finer points by experience. 

The Scotch Terrier and Beagle should be 



TRAINING FOR SKUNK, OPOSSUM, ETC. 61 

mink dog. Tlie steel trap m more generallv re- 
lied upon to bag the sly mink and liis (•a])trire 
with dog and gun is oft-times veiy unproductive. 
A Pennsylvania hunter contributes the fol- 
lowing to the general fund : 




Opossums Are Easily Caught iVlivc for Training Purposes. 

a good cross for mink as well as rabbit. Tliis 
combination gives the requisite agility needed 
in coping with mink. Some even advise a strain 
of water Spaniel with the above breed for ideal 
''Before taking him out you can teach the 
young dog when* 8 or 10 months old, what to 



62 HUNTING DOGS. 

do by catching an animal that you wish to train 
your dog on and leading it around. If it is a 
'coon or opossum, then put up a tree or on a 
fence. Loose your dog and let him trail until 
he finds it. Teach the dog to bark by hissing 
him on and clapping, whooping to him and such 
like. . 

If for skunk, kill one and drag it around, 
place it out of pup's reach, and teach him to 
bark when he comes upon his game. You can 
teach the habit of tongueing after night or 
silence on the trail as you prefer. Let your 
young dog shake and chew at the game you are 
training him to hunt for. After he has found 
it and he fails to bark by hissing him, tie a rope 
three feet long to it and keep throwing it toward 
him and pulling it quickly away to teach him to 
grab at it and hold on, and also bark. A live 
skunk generally gives a young dog such a les- 
son the first time that he is always afraid of one 
afterwards, unless he is an Irish terrier or bull 
dog or beagle crossed. These two breeds are 
good ones for any kind of night hunting. 

Take a live animal, a 'coon or something, 
and lead it past your young dog's box where he 
is tied and let him see it and take notice how he 
will want it, but all you want is to teach him the 
scent and how to tongue when he comes up on 



TRAINING FOR SKUNK, OPOSSUM, ETC. 63 

the game. I believe what I have told will 
generally break any dog. 

A good dog, Avell broken to hunt x'oon, 
skunk of opossum is Avorth scores of traps. 
Don't be afraid to switch a young dog some, to 
make him learn good from bad, like tongueing 
track and rabbit. Always pet him and be 
friendly after chastising him, and a good scold- 
ing with a couple of light smacks with open 
hand will take the place of a whipping. Don't 
use a stick unless necessary. Use judgment, the 
same as you would want some one to use you, 
and in a few nights' training your dog will be 
catching game. It is easy sailing after a few 
are caught, and your dog is your greatest friend 
you have. He will make you from |5.00 to 
$15.00 a night, where if you were trapping for 
the same game, you would be lucky if you got a 
dollar's worth of fur, and besides what is finer 
sport than a day's gunning, to hear your old dog 
up on yonder hill or in some woods talking to 
you to come his way?" 



CHAPTER YI. 

WOLF AND COYOTE HUNTING. 

TN training a dog to run wolves, it is unsafe 
to allow a young dog to go alone, as some 
wolves prefer fighting to running, and if 
a young dog is wiiippecl back a foAV times, 
he will become afraid, or will be perhaps, 
spoiled altogether. Training a dog to hunt 
young wolves is a harder task, and unless your 
dog is born for it, joii will fail to make anything 
like a first class dog out of him. xVlmost any 
good fox dog will hunt old wolves, but very few 
Avill hunt pups, and my experience has been 
tlmt a bitch will hunt quicker than a dog. There 
are a great many dogs that will trail and hunt 
a wolf to a finish, but will pay no attention to 
the pups whatever ; but if you succeed in finding 
one that is inclined to hunt them, remember 
that practice makes perfect. 

Speaking of brush wolves : The kind of dog 
needed is a good ranger, extra good cold trailer 
and an everlasting stayer. Then if he will only 
run a short distance after starting the wolf 
and come back and hunt the pups, and then 
bark at them when found, you have a good, valu- 
*" 6 65 



66 HUNTING DOGS; 

able dog. There are plenty of dogs that will 
hunt and trail Avolves all right, but very few 
that will hunt the pups. 

Sometimes when your dog trails in near th^ 
pups you Avill get a fight, and sometimes they 
will jump out and run for it. Sometimes if 
the pups are quite young you will find the mother 
in with them and for the first few days she will 
be found near them, but as they grow older she 
w^ill be found farther awaj^ 

A Minnesota wolfer Avho averages 35 wolves 
a year pins his faith in the long eared variety 
of hounds, with features of strength, endurance, 
good tonguers and stayers. 

From another source we are advised that 
the best dogs ever for coyotes, are part English 
blue and Ivussian stag. English blue are very 
fast and the stag are long winded and have the 
grit to make a good fight. 

Another admired and capable dog is the 
one-half Scotch stag hound and one-half grey 
hound. 

A Wisconsin hunter writes that the best 
breed to catch and kill coyotes are one-half shep- 
herd and one-half hound. They are faster than 
a hound and trail just as well on a hot trail. 

Another fast breed for coj^otes is a one- 
fourth English bull, one-fourth blood hound and 
one-half fox hound. 



68 HUNTING DOGS. 

A Kansas hunter contributes some first 
hand discussion of wolf hunting as follows: J 
have been hunting wolves with dogs for eight 
or nine years and have caught my share. I only 
hunt in spring and late in fall, but any time is 
good when you can find them. But don't take 
your dogs out in summer, as it will be sure to 
be the time when you will find a hard race, and 
there is where you will hurt some of your best 
dogs. I use a pack of from three to five, but the 
more the better. 

I have tried most all kinds of dogs and have 
found a cross with stag hound and English grey- 
hound suits me the best. I don't have any use 
for a full blood English greyhound — they can- 
not stand the cold weather and are too easily 
hurt in a fight, 

I want a dog that will weigh 75 pounds, 
with long legs and short back so he can gather 
himself up quickly. I don't think foxhounds are 
any good for wolves. I have seen thirty-five 
of them start after the same wolf, in good 
weather and four hours afterward there were 
only two, the smallest of the pack, still in the 
race. I have no doubt but that they could have 
taken the wolf several times in the race, but all 
they could do was to bark. 

I will not say a full blood stag hound is not 
all right, in a level, unobstructed country, but 



WOLF AND COYOTE HUNTING. 69 

in many parts of the country many large dogs 
would not be able to get thru the fences or over 
the rough ground with the ease that the smaller 
ones do. 

I have never seen the big dog that could 
catch and kill a wolf by himself. I have killed 
them with two, but would rather have four or 
five. 

I always hunt on a horse, and they should 
be the best of horses, well broken and not afraid 
of wire. I never carry a gun of any kind, but 
always have a hammer, and if I want to succor 
the dogs in the race, I will ride up to the dogs 
and kill the wolf for them. 



THE IRISH WOLFHOUND. 

The Irish wolfhound of history is no more, 
the breed having become extinct years ago. 
There has been a determined effort, however, to 
approximate him with a present day breed. 
The modern Irish wolfhound is a cross between 
the Scottish deerliound and the Great Dane. 
Other combinations have also been tried, with 
more or less good effect. 

According to the idea of the American-Irish 
Wolfhound Club, the Irish wolfhound should be 
"not quite so heavy or massive as the Great 
Dane, but more so than the deerhound, which 



70 HUNTING DOGS. 

in general tj])e he should resemble. Of great 
size and commanding appearance, very mus- 
cular, strongly though gracefully built; move- 
ments easy and active, head and neck carried 
high; the tail carried with an upward sweep, 
with a slight curve toward the extremity. 

The minimum height and weight of dogs 
should be 31 inches and 120 pounds; bitches 
28 inches and 90 pounds. Anything below this 
should be debarred from competition. Great 
size, including height and shoulder and propor- 
tionate length of body is the desideratum to be 
aimed at, and it is desired to firmly establish a 
race that shall average from 32 to 31 inches in 
dogs, showing the requisite power, activity, 
courage and symmetry." 

^'The coat should be rough and hard on 
body, legs and head; especially wiry and long 
over the eyes and under the jaws. The recog- 
nized colors are gray, brindle, red, black, pure 
white, fawn or any color that appears in the 
deerhound.'' 

THE RUSSIAN WOLFHOUND. 

The Russian wolfhound lias a reputation 
for being a most capable wolf-catcher in his 
native country, but so far the pure bred hound 
of that family has not held his own with the 



WOLF AND COYOTE HUNTING. 



71 




72 HUNTING DOGS. 

American wolf. He has the speed and capacity 
for catching the wolf, but is unable to cope with 
him or detain him long enough for the hunter 
to arrive. Admirers of the dog say he lacks 
training and adaption and that he will with a 
generation or two of careful training and 
practice become the most available dog for the 
purpose. 

Others get good results by crossing in some 
fiercer and stronger blood. 

The Eussian "VVolfer has somewhat the clean 
cut appearance of the greyhound, though more 
stockily built, and has *a long, silky coat of wavy 
or curly hair. 

''In general appearance" says an authority, 
^'he is an elegant, graceful aristocrat among 
dogs, possessing courage and combining great 
muscular power with extreme speed, weighing 
from 75 to 105 pounds.'^ 



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CHAPTER VII. 

TRAINING — FOR SQUIRRELS AND RABBITS. 

fiEI\E is my way for training squirrel and 
■ coon hounds, which I think is best, writes 
a Texas Hunter. First, select good 
healthy pups, raise them up friendly and 
don't whip or cow them in any way until about 
ten or twelve months old, for if pups get cowed 
when young they will never get over it. When 
about ten months old, take them out hunting 
with one or two squirrel dogs and then when the 
old dogs tree in small trees or any place where 
you can make them jump out, jump the squirrel 
out and get your pu^DS after them. 

Then if the squirrel gets up another tree your 
pups will bark up the tree at him. Then when 
they bark well up the tree at the sqiurrel, pet, 
sick and yell to let the pups know that you are 
trying to help them catch the squirrel. Keep 
jumping the squirrel out until they catch him, 
and if they don't catch him and it gets away up 
a big tree where you can't jump him, then shoot 
him and they will wool him Avhen he falls out. 

Clean the squirrel and give the pups some 
of it to eat, and you won't be but a few times out 

74 



TRAINING FOR SQUIRRELS AND RABBITS. 75 

hunting squirrels and jumping tlieni out for the 
pups and trying to help them catch the S(iuirrel 
until they will start out hunting and treeing 
squirrels as good as any old dog. If the dogs 
won't bark up the tree when you get through all 
of this and the,y see the squirrel run back up the 
tree, you might as well kill them or take them 
and run deer, for they will never make tree dogs. 

The following directions for perfecting the 
rabbit dog, are from the pen of an experienced 
and successful Ohio hunter. 

Get your pup some da^^ while young, if pos- 
sible, keep him by you, and when you see a spar- 
row or something alive, shoot it, pick it up and 
show him what you shot at; do this at home. 
Shoot all you please while he is young, so when 
you go hunting Avith him and shoot at game he 
won't be afraid and make a bee line for home. 

Most dogs will soon take a liking to guns. 
Now to training a beagle dog to be a good one 
on rabbits, I warn you never to take another dog 
along, but for a common hound you may use 
your own way. 

I have seen good beagle dogs spoiled by 
other dogs. Now, some frosty morning take your 
pup to where you most think there are rabbits ; 
scare one out, and then if he is not near, give 
three good sharp whistles which you ought to 
keep as your signal for him to come. If you 



76 HUNTING DOGS. 

train your pup to a regular code of whistles, he 
will know what you want. So here is a good 
code, which if kept in rule, will become very 
handy. When you have scared up game let three 
sharp whistles be the calling; if you only want 
him to come to go another way, give three long 
ones. Motion your hand in what direction you 
want to go and he will soon learn to understand. 

I have often let the dog decide the way to 
go. Now to go back to the old subject, when he 
comes you must be all excited and showing him 
that you are greatly in need of him. Then show 
him three of four places Avhere the rabbit hopped ; 
when he gets a start you go and stand where you 
most think he will come around, but again I 
warn you never to jump and run away while 
your pup is near enough to see or even hear you, 
for if you do, he will leave the track and follow 
you. Also, you will do a fine piece of work to 
shoot the first rabbit he brings around. 

Now when you shoot the game, pick it up 
and wait until your dog comes, then show it to 
him, but never let him eat one, for if you only 
cripple one he will catch and eat it. Teach him 
in the start to hold game until you come to him. 
Now to get him to start to hunt another rabbit 
may be your trouble. He may want to stay with 
you and try to steal your rabbit. The best way 
to start him out is to start walking through the 
brush and stamping on brush piles^ at the same 



TRAINING FOR SQUIRRELS AND RABBITS. 77 

time telling him to "hunt 'em up." Keep a 
piece away from him and he Avill soon start to 
hunt again. Now if he runs one into a den, 
what should you do? Dig 'im out and be a 
"Johnny-dig-'em-ouf' or let him go. 

Better examine the first den, and if not over 
2 or 3 feet deep and onl}^ a small hole, you may 
dig it out, if it is one of your dog's first hunts, 
but don't dig very big dens, for by the time you 
dig one out, you may get a shot at another. The 
way to get your pup away from a den is to look 
the situation over and then give up, telling him 
to give it up ; we can't get it ; he will soon come 
away. 

There are other things to be careful of; first 
you should never hurry your dog; walk slow 
and when he gets used to hunting let him scare 
up the most of the game or he will get lazy and 
want you to be the dog. Never whip your dog 
for a mistake, or you may spoil him. Then Avhen 
you come home you may give him the rabbit 
heads. Let him in the house, and when you eat 
your rabbit, give him all the bones. This Avill 
teach him why and for what you take your game 
home. One great thing is, if your dog scares up 
game and is following on the trail, don't change 
your standing place too often; judge the point 
where the game will come around and stay there 
until it does come. 

Some fellows will run, jump and halloo 



78 



HUNTING DOGS 



after his dog while running a rabbit; there is 
wliere you spoil him, for you must be cool in 
mind. Then when your dog is running a rabbit 
and night is coming on, don't go home until your 
dog comes to you, or right there is where your 
dog will be discouraged. So when the day's 
hunt is over 3^ou can go home with your dog by 
your side. 

Wliile you are showing him Avhat good he 
did for you, if lie is wet and cold call him near 
the stove and dry him. For if a dog must lay 
outside all wet, he will soon become stiff in his 
limbs, and rheumatism will be seen at an early 
age. Always after the day's hunt, give him all 
he wants to eat. Don't have him too fat in hunt- 
ing season, because he will tire out too easily. 




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CHAPTER Vill. 

TRAINING THE DEER HOUND. 

ON all things there is a main point, also 
certain rules which should never be for- 
gotten in training hounds, especially the 
age and the way to train them. My ex- 
perience has taught me that it is a big mistake to 
allow a young deer hound to go in the woods 
before he is 12 to 15 months old," says a Cana- 
dian hunter. 

At a year old a hound should know how to 
lead well, that is not to pull on the chain for all 
he is worth ahead of his master but to follow 
behind him through every place he passes, if be- 
tween, under or over logs as well as fences, to 
follow exactly tlie same trail as his master. A 
dog or a pair coupled together, so trained, can 
be easily led in any bush without any bother 
whatever. It is not at all necessary that a dog 
should lead in front of his master to find a trail. 
A dog with a keen nose can pick a trail from the 
air several yards before reaching it. He will 
then pull you in the direction of the same and if 
the scent is fresh, he will be anxious to follow it, 
then if the hunter is a man Avho understands his 

80 



TRAINING THE DEER HOUND. 



81 



business, he will examine the track bj followino^ 
it 100 yards or so and if suitable and going (if 
it is a deer) in the right direction and if the wind 
is also right, will then allow his hound to go. 

A dog which knows his business will not 
open the minute he gets the scent but will cover 
the ground fast and save his steam until he has 
jumped the deer or fox, then open his value and 




The Deer Seeks Refuge in Deep Water. 

if he is a flyer he will water more deer in five 
hours than another which gives tongue as soon as 
he takes the scent in five days for the reason that 
a dog which opens the very instant he finds a 
trail will have to cover 20 times more ground to 
bring his deer to water, than the one which does 
not. 

A hound should not be gun or water shy 
but should be shy of strangers, traps and of poi- 



82 HUNTING DOGS. 

soned baits. He should know how to swim across 
a river or lake and where to land. He should 
have but one master and obey him to the word 
and this without the use of the whip. He should 
know how to ride in a canoe. All this can be 
taught to him in about 3 months and he should 
know all these things before he is broken to hunt. 

The next thing is to accustom your dog to 
the gun. This is easily done. All you have to 
do is to take your gun and dog into a field and 
once there to tie your dog say five or six feet 
from you, then to shoot the gun and after every 
shot to speak kindly to your dog and make him 
smell the gun. In a day or so repeat as before 
and the moment you see that your dog is not 
afraid let him loose and shoot again and always 
pet him. He will then know what a gun is. So 
when your young hound knows the gun, the 
canoe and water, he may be taught to be shy of 
strangers, traps and of poisoned baits. 

To break a dog to hunt, you must not allow 
him to go in the bush whenever he likes. A dog 
that hunts without being in the company of his 
master will never be a well trained dog. There- 
fore, you must lead him in the bush and if you 
have a well trained dog, you may couple him 
with the young one and walk until you find a 
good trail then follow it with the dogs till you 
see that the young one has caught scent right, 



TRAINING THE DEER HOUND. 83 

then let go the young hound first and the "old 
timer" last. If the hound comes from hunting 
stock, he will hang to the trail with the other 
dog and he will only turn up with him but for 
some reason or another, should the young hound 
come back to you, "don't get mad and kick or 
beat him." No, this is a great error and many 
are the dogs which have been spoiled that waj^ 
Instead of beating, speak kindly to him and pet 
him a few seconds and keep moving towards 
where the chase is going. 

Don't excite your dog, pay no attention to 
him. If he wants to follow you at your heels, 
let him do so and once you reach a place where 
likely the other dog is going to pass, stay there 
and when the old dog comes along, the young one 
will again join and may stay this time with him, 
^s the scent will be hot and the chances are ten 
to one that the young hound will take a hand in 
the music. But if after ten, or twenty minutes, 
he should again return, treat him as before. Be 
always kind to him. If you have no old dog to 
train your young one, go with your dog and show 
him the game you want him to hunt, lead him 
until you kill one, then blood him. The blooding 
is the "A, B, 0" of training. Allow him to smell 
the game all he likes, speak kindly to him even 
if he bites the game, don't kick him off or use a 
stick on him, as I have often seen done by some 



84 HUNTING DOGS. 

fellows who pretend that to teach a hound you 
must abuse him. If you want a foolish dog, that 
is the way to use him but if you desire an intelli- 
gent one, you must encourage him. 

After a dog has been well blooded (the 
blooding is done by rubbing the hot blood of the 
game on the front legs, as well as on the sides of 
the dog), you may turn him loose or you may 
lead him until you find another trail. He will at 
once be anxious to follow. Let him lead for a 
hundred yards arid once you are sure that he has 
the scent in the right direction, let him go and 
if -that hound comes from trained stock, he will 
run that scent immediately and should he only 
be away for five, ten or more minutes and come 
back to you, speak kindly to him and tell him to 
hunt. Always mention his name and keep mov- 
ing in the direction where you suppose the game 
is. 

It is a good thing that a young dog backs his 
own tracks at first, as it teaches him that he can 
find you when he likes and a hound that does this 
after each chase will never get lost no matter 
where you may go. In deer hunting, it has many 
advantages in so far, that when you are several 
miles from camp, after your dog has a start you 
keep moving and if you find where a deer has 
just passed, you can just sit there and wait for 
the return of the dog and as soon as he returns, 



TRAINING THE DEER HOUND. Sd 

you just tie him and allow him to rest for fifteen 
or twenty minutes and then you start him again. 
I have often liad two and sometimes four chases 
in one forenoon and this without bother. Hounds 
thus trained, will always return to camp every 




Well Trained Hounds. 

night for their feed and will be ready for the 
next day. 

Some hunters say that their dogs are so 
good that when they turn them loose, they al- 
ways stay away for three or four days and they 
even go so far as to say, that they hunt night and 
day during the whole time they are away. Well, 



86 HUNTING DOGS. 

this is not the case at all. The reason is that 
they will chase a deer or fox for three or four 
hours or more and when they have watered the 
deer or holed their fox, will then start to ramble 
around and start after another and after water- 
ing their second deer, they will be so far away 
that they are unable to find their way back, and 
they will walk until they can go no more. They 
will then lie down for a long time and walk 
around and howl until they find somebody's 
trail, which they will follow to the end or until 
they land at a settler's house or at some shanty 
and will remain there. 

Now how many dogs like these will a party 
of ten or twelve men require to hunt, during ten 
or fifteen days in a strange country? When a 
hound has been away three or four days, is he 
in condition to run the next day after his re- 
turn? No, it will take him as many days to 
recover and often he will be of no use for the 
remainder of the hunt. 

Dogs like these may suit men living in the 
country where there is game. Their dogs after 
having been lost several times will, through time, 
know the lay of the country and be fairly good 
dogs at home, but take these hounds in a strange 
country, of what use and how many will a hunt- 
ing party require to hunt every day of their out- 
ing? Well, they will require a car-load and be- 



TRAINING THE DEER HOUND. 87 

&ides several men to hunt the dogs. Such dogs as 
these don't stay with me, as I consider them a 
nuisance, especially for city sportsmen, who are 
so busy during the whole year that they can only 
take a few weeks holiday every year, they require 
a strain of hounds on which they can depend 
every day of their hunt. I want a dog to be a 
flyer and to back track after every chase and to 
find me in the bush and not make for camp after 
hi-s chase or Avait at the shore until some "Johnny 
Sneakum'' comes along with his canoe and says, 
"Get in Jack,'' and that Jack is only too glad 
to jump in and the next thing is that you don't 
see Jack for the balance of the season, but you 
will learn later on that Jack has been half 
starved that it will cost you |5.00 to |10.00 for 
the board if you desire to get Jack. 

I will say here that I owe my life to two of 
my hounds. I was lost once in the woods in a 
blinding snow storm. This was in Western On- 
tario amongst a range of sappy pine hills. I was 
about five miles from camp. In the morning 
when I left the weather was very fine but it 
soon started to snow and the storm lasted until 
about ^ P. M. I was soaking wet and I had left 
my compass at camp, my matches were all wet 
and I slept in the bush. At 10 A. M. I had 
started my two hounds and about 11 A. M. they 
came back to me. It was just commencing to 



88 HUNTING DOGS. 

snow heavily but thinking it would not last long, 
I made for another hill where I was aware, if 
an}^ deer started from there it was a sure run 
for our men, so I arrived there in due time and 
got a start. It was still snowing very heavily. 
I then j)ointed for home. I had about five miles 
more to reach our camp when I came to a place 
where a deer had just left his nest, so I thought 
that I could get a shot at him but after having 
followed him for about an hour, I gave him up 
and I tried to make for camp. 

Well, instead of making for camp, I made a 
circle and came back to the same place where 
I had left the deer's track. It was 4 P. M., when 
my dogs came back to me. I knew then that I 
was completely turned so I decided to spend the 
night right there. I looked for a sheltered place 
and after removing all the snow I could I lay 
down with my back against a big flat stone and 
with my two dogs lying near me. We were quite 
comfortable and early in the morning, I pointed 
for camp. Now if these dogs had not returned 
to me, I really believe that I would not be able 
to write this, as their heat preserved me from 
freezing to death. 



CHAPTER IX. 

TRAINING — SPECIFIC THINGS TO TEACH. 

CO teach the dog to bark treed, it is best, 
of course, to take him out with an old 
dog, but if you have no old dog, you can 
train him without one. This can be done 
by catching a live ground hog, 'coon or opossum. 
Take the animal you have to some small tree, a 
• dogwood for instance, and let it climb from the 
ground up. It would be better if you could 
lead it or even drag it a short distance — ten 
feet, say, at first, to a tree. 

Don't let your dog look on while doing this. 
After you have your animal treed, get your dog 
and bring him to the tree and give him the scent 
on the ground. If he is new at the business, he 
will not likely look up the tree, but will hunt 
for trail. If he finds where the animal is him- 
self, try to get him to bark, but if he doesn't 
find it, then show him. Try to make him bark. 
That is one of the objects at this point as well 
as to find where the animal is. 

Have your gun along, and as soon as you 
get your dog to bark, shoot into the air and at 
the same time, pull the animal out of the tree 

89 



90 



HUNTING DOGS. 



by the string by which he is tied. But what- 
ever you do, don't let the animal get the best 
of your young dog or you will have a spoiled 




Good Friends Get Along Best. 

dog. I always liked a possum for this work 
because they are easy to handle and don't fight 
your dog. 



SPECIFIC THINGS TO TEACH. 91 

You must remember that, at this point, you 
are not training your dog to figlit. The object 
is first to find where the animal goes and second 
to get your dog to "bark uj)/' Continue this 
practice for some time ; then put your animal in 
a larger tree out of sight but don't put in the 
same tree each time. After you have your dog 
trained so he will trail and bark up in the man- 
ner just described, the chances are that he will 
tree 'coon, if he gets a fresh trail. Of course, 
he will not be a good 'coon dog at once; that 
comes by experience. 

Next to a good dog in the 'coon hunting 
business, is a good gun and lantern. Don't try 
to hunt 'coon with a common open lantern. A 
good kind of lantern to find their eyes with is a 
dark or police lantern, as you don't have to put 
them on your head to find their eyes. But what- 
ever kind you use, have one with a good bulls- 
eye and a refiector. Use a good shot gun. I 
generally use No. 2 shot. 

Having prepared ourselves with a good dog, 
gun and lantern, we are now ready for business. 
We will go out first on a cloudy night. We will 
go into the woods and walk slowly, giving the 
dog plenty of time to hunt and if we don't see 
him pretty soon, we will sit down on a log and 
wait a while. 

Don't go thru the woods as if some one were 



92 HUNTING DOG^. 

after you or as if you were in a hurry and then 
call your dog as soon as you get thru the woods. 
You will never have a good 'coon dog if you do 
so, especially if he is new at the business. If 
you want a dog that will stay by the trail, you 
want to stay w^ith him. If you use your dog 
properly, that is, if you hunt slow and sit down 
on a log or wait for your dog until he comes in 
and then move on as soon as he does come in, 
you will find that jour dog will soon "catch on" 
to this and will always come in as soon as he 
has a woods or a portion of a woods hunted over, 
unless he "trees." 

Another brother offers the following sug- 
gestions : "Let me give you a few pointers in 
regard to breaking them to hunt 'coon. When 
the pup is five or six months old, teach him to 
speak or bark by holding up a piece of meat 
or bread, and when you get him so he will bark, 
take him into the Avoods where there are squir- 
rels. Be sure and take your gun along and 
chase every squirrel or cat up a tree and shoot 
the squirrel. Be sure and make the dog help 
to chase the squirrel then skin the squirrel. 
Cut it up in small pieces and feed it to your 
dog. Do this as often as possible and you will 
be surprised how quickly he will learn. Com- 
mence early in the fall to hunt 'coon, and keep 
away as much as possible from the haunts of 



SPECIFIC THINGS TO TEACH. 93 

the rabbit with your dog, but if he gets after a 
rabbit, get him off as soon as possible and scold 
him. I wouldn't advise anyone to hunt rabbits 
with dog until thoroughly broken to hunt 
'coon." 

TEACHING THE DOG HOW TO SWIM. 

As for swimming, we are aware that all 
dogs when throAvn in the water can swim, but 
the question is, will they swim right and take 
to water at once. I say no, they all need train- 
ing before they will take to water when told, 
swim and float right and remain in the water 
for hours when necessary, and also return game 
from water when required whether it be for fur 
or feathers. 

To teach a dog to swim, take him often to 
a nice shore and let Jiim play at the edge of tlie 
water and say nothing to him. After you have 
done this during three or four days, tie him and 
row about thirty yards from shore. Use a flat 
bottom boat or a good safe one and place him 
gently in the water, hold his head aboA^e the 
water till he floats, then row to the shore. He 
will follow and as soon as you land, get out of 
the boat and call him to the shore. This will 
teach him to land because should you sta^^ in 
the boat, he will try to get in the boat with 
you. 



94 HUNTING DOGS. 

Now allow liim to play for five or ten 
minutes, then repeat the same tactics but row a 
little further. After two or three days lessons 
such as these, the dog will take the water. To 
make him do this, row a few yards from the 
shore and call him. He will at once follow you. 
Row slowly away and the moment you see he is 
getting tired, pull him on board or row to shore. 
Never train your dog to swim during cold 
weather but when it is warm and sunny. A 
nice sunny morning is the best time to teach 
them to swim. Once he knows how to swim 
right, take him across a small river or lake and 
then come back and make him swim back. He 
will then never be afraid of water. 

To teach a hound to properly ride in a 
canoe, tie him and have a whip or a small switch 
and make him lie down. Always speak to him 
kindly. Mention the dog's name and say lie 
down. If he does not obey, whip but do so care- 
fully. "Avoid whipping,'' because there has 
been many dogs that would have been good 
hunters that have been completely spoiled by 
the whip. Always speak to your dog, then give 
one single stroke; if he does not obey give 
another stroke and so on until he does so. As 
soon as he lies down, you can allow him to put 
up his head and look above the boat and row 
across the river or lake. Once on the other 



SPECIFIC THINGS TO TEACH. 95 

side, order him off and hold your rope which 
must be a long one. If he goes to jump, give him 
a good check and make him walk off easily. 
Once he is landed, hold him and pet him. Stay 
there five minutes or so, then get in the boat 
again, hold the boat and order your dog to get 
in the boat. I use the word ''Board.'' Mention 
the dog's name and say ''board" and to order 
him out, say "move." 

As soon as the dog gets in the boat say, "Lie 
down" or just "down" and if he does not obey, 
show him the whip and command him, then 
whip. As soon as he is down, get in and row 
a few hundred j^ards further and repeat the 
same a dozen of times. The moment the dog 
obeys, you must pet him so as to make him 
understand that what he does is right. If you 
will repeat the same tactics for three or four 
days, the dog will soon know how to balance him- 
self and will be very steady — you will never 
have any bother with him. Thus a dog trained 
to water and canoe is a very handy thing for you 
as well as for the dog. Should you have no 
room in the canoe, he will swim. If jou have 
room, just for him he will be as safe for you to 
take on board as a stone. A pair of hounds so 
trained will just balance your canoe right. It 
is a good thing to put some hay, straw or a 
bag in the bottom of the boat or canoe for the 



96 HUNTING DOGS. 

dog to lie down on. Tliey will soon know their 
place to lay. 

A QUICK METHOD. 

Having many years of experience in the 
breeding and training of hounds to hunt nearly 
all kind of game, a Canadian brother hunter 
tells how to train dogs for 'coon when he has no 
old dog to teach the young one. 

1st. Set a trap where you see 'coon signs 
as follows: Take the skin or part of a good 
sized green codfish, tie it to a string and drag 
it along the bank of a creek or place where you 
see their signs, to the place you wish to set 
your trap. 

2nd. Take a good sized stick about 4 feet 
long, drive it well on a nice flat piece of land, 
then tie what you have dragged to this stick 
about 20 inches from the ground. Have the 
bait well tied so that Mr. 'Coon will have a hard 
job to pull a piece off. 

3rd. Take three No. 1^ or larger size steel 
traps, but not very stiff spring, set them 8 
inches from the stick and arrange in such a way 
as to form a triangle. Have the chains well 
secured so that Mr. 'Coon will only be caught 
in one of the traps. Dig holes for four traps 
and cover chain and traps with dry grass or 
leaves. Be careful not to put anything to inter- 



SPECIFIC THINGS TO TEACH. 97 

fere with the jaAvs of your traps and make things 
look as natural as possible. Visit your traps 
the next morning and the chances will be that 
you will have one or tAVO 'coons waiting you. I 
have often found three waiting me in one set- 
ting as above. When you have a coon or two, 
take one at a time to an open field about 400 
yards from the bush, then tie a long clothes line 
to the ring of the chain in such a way that it 
will not slip off. At the other end of the line, 
tie something white, and allow Mr. 'Coon to 
make for the bush. Have a friend with you that 
will keep an eye on Mr. 'Coon. Then take your 
dog to the spot in the field where the coon 
started from, and make him take the scent, and 
once he has it in the right direction and com- 
mences to pull, turn him loose and follow him. 

If the hound comes from good stock, he will 
soon find Mr. 'Coon and will bark at him. 
Encourage him and have your friend pull on the 
line in order to make the 'coon move. The dog 
will then catch him; after the hound has 
pinched the 'coon a couple of times, throw the 
line over a branch of some good sized tree and 
help the 'coon to climb. Allow tlie dog to bark 
for a while. Shoot the coon, open him at once 
and blood your dog well by rubbing the blood on 
his front legs and over his body. 

If you have another coon, repeat the same 

7 



98 BUNTINO DOG^. 

With the second as you have done with the firsts 
but in another direction of the field and bush. 
Always allow the 'coon to go far enough so that 
J^our dog will not see him. When you take him 
Where the coon scent is, after the 'coon is dead 
and your dog well blooded, go home with your 
dog and 'coon. Chain your dog and put the 
'coon near him for three or four hours before 
skinning and while doing this, have your dog 
near you. The next day, take your dog where 
'coons are moving and he will soon have one for 
you. Repeat the blooding every time and you 
will soon have a No. 1 'coon dog. 



CHAPTER X. 

TRAINING RANDOM SUGGESTIONS FROM MANY 

SOURCES. 



$ 



UMMING up we find much pointed and 
valuable information relating to the 
training of dogs omitted thru lack of 
space. From this we present a chapter 
of "nuggets" in paragraph form, which will no 
doubt prove interesting and beneficial to those 
interested in training hunting dogs. Here are 
a few things not to do : 

Don't allow jour dogs to run into every 
farmyard as you pass along the road. 

Don't allow them to be used with which to 
run stock. 

Don't let them get into the habit of run- 
ning other dogs. 

Don't let them run house-cats. 

Don't teach him to be called by shooting. 

Don't, when out hunting, keep urging him 
all the time. 

Don't let every one have him to hunt with 
or he will soon be everybody's dog. 

Don't allow them to come into the house and 
get into every pan and kettle, if your wife is 
good-natured. 

iioo 



TRAINING — RANDOM SUGGESTIONS^ ETC. 101 

Don't correct him by pulling his ears, for 
a fox dog needs his hearing. 

Don't feed but twice a da}^, and don't stint 
him on his feed before starting on a race. 

Don't allow him to run loose Avhen you are 

not using him. 

* * * 

Did you ever try using a sheep bell on a 
still trailer on windy, stormy nights? It's a suc- 
bells on sheep and disregard them until the dog 
but 'coon usually become accustomed to sheep 
bells on sheep and disregards them until the dog 
gets too close for them to escape. Then, w^here 
not accustomed to the bell, their curiosity over- 
comes their fear. The best pair of 'coon dogs 
I ever owned was Sport, a fox hound and collie, 
half and half, a slow semi-mute trailer, and 
Simon, a full blood fox terrier, a fast mute 
trailer. I used a bell on Sport. This and his 
occasional barks on the trail kept the attention 
of the 'coon while Simon cut across lots and in- 
variably took him unawares. 

I have learned at considerable expense that 
the best at most any price is the cheapest. If 
you want a good, cheap 'coon dog, get a half 
pup collie and half fox hound. Never give him 
a taste of nor let him see a rabbit, teach him a 
few tricks (to make him pay for his meals), 
such as jumping over a stick, then a pole, then 



102 HUNTING DOGS. 

a fence. This is to teach him to obey every 
word. 

Never scold or whip him, gain his con- 
fidence, teach him to speak for bits ef meat so 
when the time comes to hunt 'coon you can get 
him to bark up ; get him to catch and carry and 
he will often catch an opossum or maybe a mink 
or 'coon and kill it when away from you, and 
if you teach him to bring everything (rats, wood- 
chucks) home to you, he will do the same in the 
woods after night. Never let him get whipped 
by another dog or woodchuck, 'coon or even a 
big rat. Always help him kill or whip every- 
thing he jumps on to or that jumps on to him. 
A defeat will discourage him. 

When your young dog is ready for a night 
hunt in the woods or cornfield, choose the best 
and most favorable night for the first trip. 
Feed no meat nor milk for 24 hours previous to 
the first or any subsequent trip, for that matter, 
for the best dogs, full of meat or milk, cannot 
do good work on the most favorable night. Feed 
him a good dinner of vegetables, but no supper 
until you return from the hunt, then give him 
anything. Choose a dark and cloudy night, the 
darker the better, not too still, as usually on 
very, still nights the atmosphere is heavy and 
smoke settles to the earth, so likewise does the 
scent of the 'coon trail, and many a fine dog has 



TRAINING — RANDOM SUGGESTIONS^ ETC. 103 

been condemned for failing to locate his 'coon 

when started under such a condition as this. 

* * * 

Do not return home and leave your hounds 
in the woods, rather walk a mile or two to catch 
them and they will be in better shape to hunt the 
next day than if you had allowed them to run 

all night. 

* * * 

I notice so many of the boys in telling of 
their 'coon hunting say when Old Jack or 
Trailer, or whatever his name might be, strikes 
a trail they follow him as fast as they can run 
until out of wind, then as soon as he barks 
treed, they go to him on the double quick, over 
logs, brush, barb wire fences, thru brier patches, 
swamps and so on. Now, this may be all right, 
I am not condemning any one else's method of 
hunting, but just want to exchange ideas. When 
my dog strikes a trail or I have reason to think 
there is anything doing, I just wait right where 
I am until they tree or come back to me. If they 
bark treed, I just take my time and if I know 
of a way around that will save going thru some 
thicket or up some very steep hill, I just go 
around and save those hardships. And another 
thing I never do is whoop and hallo at my dogs 
when they are working. I think that has spoiled 
many a good dog, and never run to a dog as soon 



104 HUNTING D0G3. 

as he barks up, but give him time to think it 
over and circle the tree a few times ; then, when 
he settles down again you can go to him and de- 
pend upon the 'coon being there. 



PART II. 



BREEDING AND CARE, OF 
DOGS. 



105 



CHAPTER XI. 

SELECTING THE DOG. 

DIFFERENT hunters have different ideas 
as to the style of dog best suited to their 
purposes. We can onl}^ approach the 
subject, by giving views of experienced 
breeders, and the reader may choose as he is in- 
clined. 

From a Canadian Hunter comes the follow- 
ing: 

This question of the right kind of dogs to 
select is a matter on which many sportsmen dif- 
fer in opinion. Some prefer the small, some the 
medium and others the large hound. For me I 
like a hound to be from 24 to 27 inches high at 
the shoulder and well put together, Avith a lot of 
bones, straight front legs with strong and com- 
pact feet, "but not too large" with good strong 
nails w^ell set in, the body to be long and not 
short of flank Avith a wide chest and a moderate 
deep chest and with a strong broad back, hind 
legs with the right kind of bend, that is neither 
straight or too much curved in, with well fur- 
nished thighs. 

Dogs with straight hiud legs cannot run and 
107 



108 HUNTING DOGS. 

jump over logs and fences with the same ease as 
those having a marked bend. These dogs can 
buckle and unbuckle with more quickness and 
power, such as is required in the gallop than 
dogs having a round barrel shaped chest, with 
both the front and hind legs straight. Dogs hav- 
ing a nearly round chest cannot stand any length 
of hard running, such as those having a narrow 
chest because a dog with a moderate deep and 
narrow chest has better wind as he is able to 
alter the cubic contents of his chest more rapidly 
and thus inhale and expire a larger volume of 
air. Therefore, a dog with a deep or flat chest 
will always have a greater speed than one 
with a round one. This is a well known fact in 
all animals remarkable for their speed, such as 
deer, wolf and greyhound. 

I like dogs with good muscular thighs with 
a flue long tapering and graceful wavering stern, 
ears to be well set and not too long and not thick 
and slabby, neck to be long and well set between 
the shoulders, the head and muzzle, this is only 
a matter of taste. Those I prefer are those hav- 
ing a long and narrow forehead and a fairly 
square muzzle, ears from 7 to 9 inches long, lips 
loose but not hanging low, throat loose and 
roomy in the skin and a good coat of hair so they 
can stand cold and water, and with a good loud 
tongue and keen nose. The color has nothing to 



SELECTING THE DOG. l09 

do, the main point is the staying quality, the 
speed, scent and endurance; the intelligence 
and the particular style of ranging or beating 
the ground for trail as well as to run it once 
found, with great speed. 

Some say a fine looking hound should be a 
good hunter. Well, any hunter of experience in 
the handling of hounds is fully aware that it is 
not always the dog which carries the prizes at 
the shows that is the best dog in the field. The 
same thing exists with the horse. Some people 
claim that it all depends on the breeding, others 
on the training. The fact is that both are re- 
quired as well as the right shape the dog should 

have to be able to stand hard work day after day. 
* * * 

The most essential thing to the value and 
working capabilities of fox hounds is purity of 
blood, declares another. Too much care, there- 
fore, cannot be taken in selecting and breeding 
fox hounds. Hounds for running the red fox 
should be selected from the best possible blood 
that can be obtained. I like a hound with a long 
clear voice — one that can be heard at least two 
miles away on an ordinary calm day — and one 
that gives tongue freely when running and trail- 
ing but not one that gives tongue when he has 
run over the trail and lost scent. 



llO HUNTING DOG^. 

In selecting a night hunting dog I prefer 
one that is three-quarters or at least one-half fox 
hound. The reason is, the fox hound has a 
good nose, also a good voice and speed. While 
I do not condemn a dog that is bred in any other 
way, I prefer one bred as I have stated for the 
reasons given above. 

Some prefer a dog that is part beagle, but if 
any reader of this book has ever tried to train 
a dog with good beagle blood in his veins to hunt 
coon, he has been up against the real thing. The 
trouble is, the beagle has it bred right in him to 
run rabbits, and blood will tell. The only point 
in favor of the beagle is his nose. With the ex- 
ception of the bird dog the beagle has the finest 
scent of the whole dog family. I know this to be 
true by observation. A fox gives off more scent 
than a rabbit, so does a coon and all the other 
animals. 

During the "nesting season" birds give 
scarcely any. This is a wise provision of Nature 
to protect them from their enemies during this 
important period. 

One day I saw a fine English setter almost 
step on a grouse that was sitting on her nest. 
He never scented her until she went whirling 
out the ridge right in front of his nose. That 
dog's actions told more plainly than words could 
have done, how deeply he regretted the incident. 



SELECTING a:HE DOa. Ill 



i have also seen a beagle run a rabbit after a 
heavy rain, the rabbit, to my knowledge, having 
run before the rain fell. 



Many writers say that a dog's pedigree and 
his being registered, does not amount to the pa- 
per it is written on. Now I do not wish to criti- 
cise any of my brother sportmen, but I think it 
is the only way to know if one's dog is Avell bred, 
and to have a well bred dog means much less 
trouble in training him. Do not get discouraged 
if your dog does not train as easily as he should, 
and always remember that much depends upon 
you. Stay with your dog if you want him to be 
a good sticker. Many a dog has been spoiled by 
leaving him to run for nothing. 

In selecting a dog to hunt all kinds of game, 
get a good bred hound. I have no use for mon- 
grels or curs. They are dear at any price. Get 
a thick, hard, round-footed, long ears coming out 
of head low down, well developed chest, short- 
ish tail, large at root or next to body, long from 
hip to gamble joint, with broad strong back, wide 
nostrils and long pendant lip. Now this is my 
idea of a good all around hunting dog. I don't 
expect you to find all of these qualifications in 

any one dog. 

* * * 

Have decided that for my use, a full blooded 



112 HUNTING DOG^. 

hound. That is a good, fast and reliable trailer, 
one that Avill stay with the trail, cold or hot, and 
never think of giving up until asked to. One 
that will bark treed on a cold trail just the same 
as if he had run him up a sight chase. One that 
should he in cold trailing run across a hot trail 
and tree, will after catching go and take up cold 
trail again and tree. 

* * * 

When it comes to large hounds for coon, 
fox, etc., a cross of the right kind of American 
fox hounds and the right kind of blood hounds 
fills the bill to perfection. The blood hound has 
the keenest scent of any dog living. The Ameri- 
can fox hound has the speed. If a man has a 
combination of the two he is starting on the 
right trail. I prefer a fox hound bitch bred to 
bloodhound dog. How many ever saw a thor- 
oughbred bloodhound? They are a heavy built 
hound, medium' size heavy head, long ears, 
square deep muzzle, with heavy rolls of wrinkles 
on head just over the eyes, which gives him a 
surly look. I have seen what were called and 
sold for bloodliounds to a sheriff to trail man. 
They would trail fairly well, but they came a 
long ways from being thoroughbred blood- 
hounds. Any hound trained when young can be 
taught to trail man or beast. 

Hunters differ as to the kind of dog to use 



SELECTING THE DOG. 113 

for coon hunting. The best coon dog I ever had 
(and I've had a good many) was a half Scotch 
terrier and I don't know what the other half 
was. He was black and white spotted with curly 
hair and weighed but thirty-two pounds. 

Some hunters prefer the shepherd dog and 
again some would hunt with nothing else but a 
hound. I don't know as it makes much differ- 
ence what kind of a dog one uses, just so it is 
one of the hunting kind, a good trailer and thor- 
oughly well trained. Of course, not every dog, 
even of the hunting kind, will make a good coon 

dog; about the only way to tell is to try. 
* * * 

As to picking a pup for a coon hound, it is 
very hard to do,- but I want a full bloodhound, 
one that tongues on trail and a free barker at 
tree. I want the old style hound, as the modern 
fox hounds are too nervous for good coon liounds, 
although you may get one once in a while that 
will work a cold trail very well. 

A cross between the old style, long eared 
hound and the fast trailing hound with large, 
heavy shoulders, deep chest, a large fore leg, 
large broad head, long ears, rather short coupled 
back, slightly roached back, with a good' square 
nose, rather large neck, set well down in the 
shoulders. While this is my kind of hound for 
coon, do not understand me to say that I want 

8 



114 HUNTING DOGS. 

an extra slow trailer, for I do not, but I want 
him to be steady, and when he has a trail he can 
work it fast. This is mv kind of a dog for coon, 
but he would not be in it with an up to date fox 
hound on a fox chase, but running fox and coon 
are different, and I want a different kind of a 
hound. * * * 

We have made a success in raising bear 
hounds, and find the only way to get a good pup 
with the hunting habit, is to have it bred in them 
first, says a California Brother. One has to have 
good parent hounds, and while the mother dog 
is carrying tlie pups she must be worked on what- 
ever you want your pups to run. For instance, 
we have a black and tan long eared bitch, bred 
her to a good hound, one quarter stag. Before 
she had these puppies we caught three bears 
with others, letting her get in and fight hard. 

These puppies when a month old would 
crawl on a bear hide rug, chew and shake at it, 
and when three months old, would track, bark 
and fight. Now they are five months old and 
know considerable about it. We treed an old 
bear, and these pups kept right on and treed two 
cubs, and barked up and stayed until we found 
them after we had the old one skinned and cut 
up. They have the instinct in them, and are 
beauties with just enough stag in them to have 
a good crop of whiskers. 



CHAPTEK XII. 

CARE AND BREEDING. 

^S we must raise the dog before concerning 
ourselves with his culture, let us begin 
Avitli the pup. 
I commence to care for the pups by 
giving the bitch plenty of exercise before they 
are born. Then as soon as they are born, put 
them in a clean, dry place, where they will be 
comfortable, — if in winter, where cold winds 
cannot reach tliem ; if in summer, in a cool place 
out of the hot sun. Feed the bitch well on good 
food of different varieties ; do not chain her, but 
rather shut her u^) in a jiark of something of the 
kind, wliere she can exercise but not get out to 
run, for if she should run she gets hot and you 
may loose some if not all of your puppies. 

By the time the pups are three weeks old, 
you Avill need to commence feeding some milK 
twice each day, gradually increasing the amount 
as the bitch becomes dr^^, and when she weans 
tliem, feed three times a day, until about six 
months old ; after which I only feed twice a day. 

In this connection we quote from an article 
in a current magazine, the truth of the conten- 

116 



CARE AND P.RI]E1)ING. 117 

tions being borne out to a greater or less extent 
by our own observations : 

After her puppies are about five weeks of 
age a bitch will begin to vomit the contents of 
her stomach for the puppies. I have known 
many breeders of experience argue that but few 
bitches do so. Over and over again have I been 
able to convince persons Avho, having immediate 
care of tlie bitch and her litter, deny that the 
bitch ever vomits to her puppies, that they are 
wrong. ]Many bitches never vomit wlien the at- 
tendant is about, and only appear to do so at 
night; hence the belief tliat they do not do so 
at all. It is the natural manner in which the 
bitch feeds her whelp with partiall^^ digested 
food, after lier milk supply ceases to suffice for 
their requirements. If the bitcli is of good con- 
stitution and in good health, the puppies flourish 
remarkably on the diet thus provided, and in such 
cases my experience leads me to believe that pup- 
pies left with their dams do better than when 
separated from them and, strange to say, bitches 
who are in the habit of picking up all sorts of 
apparently undesirable odds and ends do not 
seem to do their puppies less well under these cir- 
cumstances than cleaner feeders do. 

Many bitclies eat the young soon as they 
come if not closely watched, especially the first 
time. There should be an attendant at time of 



118 HUNTING DOGS. 

whelping. Whelps must be removed to a basket 
of warm cloths and kept away till all have come 
and then place to matron for nursing. There is 
no danger of her devouring them thereafter. 

To resume : This is what I feed pups : grind 
rye without bolting and sometimes oats ground 
very fine; tlien run through a coarse sieve, and 
bake into bread without soda or baking powder, 
or make into a thick mush and feed it with plenty 
of milk if convenient. As they grow older add 
cornmeal and scraps from the butcher shop to 
the feed, and give them enough to keep them 
nice and sleek, but do not overfeed. 

By the time they are three weeks old they 
will be running everywhere, and let them have 
plenty of room to run and play. Change their 
beds as often as needed, which is a good way to 
prevent fleas. Should fleas get on them as they 
are sure to do, put a tablespoonful of oil of tar 
in a quart of warm water, take a fine tooth comb, 
dip in tar water, and comb them until the hair 
is thoroughly saturated; repeating as often as 
needed. 

For bedding, the best is leaves from the 
woods; straw Avill answer, but I prefer the 
leaves to anything I have ever tried, but what- 
ever is used it should be changed often and kept 
dry. For the dog with a damp place to sleep, 
will soon have the mange, and it is far easier to 



CARE AND BREEDING. 119 

keep a dog- liealtliy than to cure him after he has 
become diseased. In warm weather I use no 
bedding as it is only a harbor for vermin. 

The best place by far, to keep your dogs, is 
in a park, wliere there is shade in summer, with 
running water, and slope enough to the land, to 
allow it to be well washed whenever it rains. 
Then provide dry, comfortable quarters to sleep, 
and you have an ideal home for dogs. In case 
you cannot have a place of this kind nor even 
a small park, and must keep your dog chained, 
attach a good heavy Avire to the dog house and 
the other end to a tree, where your dog can get 
to a shade if possible; then attach a chain to 
the wire so your dog can travel along the wire ; 
but be sure that he cannot get tangled uti and 
have to lay out some wet night 

Some are situated far better than others for 
taking care of dogs and I am sorry to say there 
is an occasional sportsman (or at least he owns 
a dog or two), who is inclined to let his dogs 
shift for themselves. I pity the dog that is un- 
fortunate enough to have such an owner. 

My experience is that too much meat is not 
good for the foxhound, and if they get a mess of 
old stale meat just before you want to run them, 
the chances are that they can't make the race. 
I have seen good dogs that couldn't run an hour, 
simply because they were filled up with old dead 



120 HUNTING DOG^. 

hog or horse. If you want to make a good race 
with your dog, keep him tied two or three days 
before you intend to run him, feed him corn 
bread (well baked) and sweet milk. If you run 
at night, give your dog a good feed at noon and 
very little at night when you start, and if your 
hound has the "stuff'' in him he is good for all 
night. 

It think rotten meat will affect the smelling 
of a dog as Avell as heat them up, so they can't 
make a good race. To let your dog run loose 
until you are ready for a chase, where he can 
find slop and such stuff to be filled up on, and 
have your friend meet you with his hounds in 
fine shape and lead your hound all the time, well 
you know how you would feel. 

Some say you must have it bred in a hound 
to run. That is all true enough, but a well bred 
hound with all grit can't make a good race if 
he isn't in shape to do it. 

The foregoing is borne out and added detail 
given in the following contribution from New 
York State : 

I find that fox hounds which I feed on old 
stinking pork or stinking meat of any kind are 
quite stupid and very careless about hunting. 
They cannot keep on the trail, neither do they 
wish to run fast or continue running long. Old 



CARE AND lUlEEDING. 121 

stinking pork seems to be the worst I could feed 
to a fox hound, and corn bread and some milk 
on it seems to be the best. 

When my dogs are fed on cornbread and 
milk they display the most activity, and can fol- 
low a fox or rabbit more accurately and accord- 
ingly run faster. Allien I want to make my 
hound run slow I feed him some meat, and the 
more it stinks the less he can smell anything 
but the fumes of this in his stomach. I can 
easily tell by the smell of my dog's breath 
whether he has eaten fresh mutton or rotten 
horse recently, and I think any healthy person 
can easily. 

Here are another hunter's views on this 
same subject : 

In rearing hounds, to have them hardy and 
intelligent you must feed them right and lorovide 
them with a lot of good fresh water as well as 
to give them daily exercise. When I feed beef, 
I have a small axe with which I chop all the 
bones into fine pieces. They also get scraps from 
the table with some vegetables mixed with 
cooked rolled oats. I feed the old ones once a 
day with raw meat and once with porridge. I 
see that they get just enough to keep them always 
in good running condition, that is neither fat nor 
thin. I like a dog with a good rolling skin. I 



122 HUNTING DOGS. 

never take a skeleton dog in the avooiIs as I have 
often seen hunters going deer hunting Avith dogs 
which you could read a newspaper through. 

Now of AA'hat use are such animals as these? 
Some say tliat a thin dog Avill run better than a 
fat one. Yes, if the fat one is hog fat ; but a dog 
with about one-half inch of hard fat on the ribs 
will out-do a dozen of these starved dogs of which 
you can count the bones at one hundred yards 
from them. No, a dog with just the skin and 
bones cannot stand any work for the reason that 
he has no bottom. 

Young pups should be fed at the A^ery least 
three times daily, four times is still better. 
Never give them more than what they can eat, 
and in the meantime see that they just get 
enough so as to clean the dish Avell at CA^ery meal 
and in no case should the pan containing the 
food be left in the intervals Avith the puppies if 
they haA^e not cleaned it out as they will become 
disgusted with it and next time refuse to feed. 
Keep CA^erything clean and dry and always feed 
at the same hour daily. It is much easier to 
rear a pair of pups than a single one. 

Before weaning the dew-claAV should ahvays 
be removed. These are of no use but only serA^e 
to bother the dogs and hounds should always 
haA-e them cut off. 

Worm medicine should ahvays be given to 



CARE AND BREEDING. 123 

all young dogs and kennels should be lime 
washed at least three times a year and never al- 
low your dogs to sleep near the stove and then 
turn them out in the cold. If you desire a lazy 
hound allow him to burn himself at the stove, 
but if on the contrary you wish a lively dog, pro- 
vide him Avith a good dry kennel and if you keep 
several dogs see that each one has his own stall. 
This has the advantage of preventing them from 
fighting and from the risk of taking cold by 
lying out of the kennel. 

When your dogs return from the hunt al- 
ways examine their feet and legs and if you find 
any sore spots attend to them at once. If the 
dogs return wet to camp always allow them to 
dry near a stove before turning them to their 
kennel which should be a good dry one. 

If you desire your dogs to stand hard work 
day after day you must look after them with as 
much care as a jockey attends to his horse. 

The very moment you notice your dog is 
looking dull ascertain at once what is the cause, 
and if you are of the opinion that it is a cold or 
distemper, don't wait until you see his eyes and 
nose running, to doctor him, but attend to him 
immediatelv. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

BREEDING. 

CHE main and most important question in 
breeding race horses as well as hounds is 
to get always the very best and to do this, 
one has to be on the move and watch the 
hunting and staying quality as well as the style 
of looking for trails, etc. ; and a breeder should 
always be ready to pay the price for a good sire 
or dam. And he should always bear in mind 
that there is no more trouble or bother and that 
it does not cost more to raise a pair of dogs 
from well known hunting stock than from un- 
known stock but where it tells is when the dogs 
are of age for training. It is here Avhere the 
great difference exists and where a sportsumn is 
Avilling to look at tlie right side of the umtter 
finds his mistake and Avhere he regrets not hav- 
ing paid a few dollars more for the right stock. 
Some say that if pedigreed dogs were 
trained they would beat the other dogs. The 
question is to train them. Hounds Avhich come 
from untrained or from partly or badly trained 
stock Avill always be poor hunters. They will 
never be the dogs that they would have been had 
• 125 



126 HUNTING D0G9. 

they come from liig'hly trained stock, that is that 
their sire and dam and grand sire and grand 
dam were all ti^ained by persons who thoroughly 
understood the way of breeding and rearing as 
well as the age and proper way of training. A 
hound coming from such selected stock will 
learn and pick up in a day what will take others 
months and probably a Avhole season to learn. 
I never kept a hound which after having shown 
him the game and also blooded him once or twice 
would not at once start to hunt because I con- 
sider that the sooner a sportsman will shoot 
such dogs the better. 

There are plenty of fox dogs that are good 
coon dogs, and a great many coon dogs will run 
a fox to a finish, but the fox and coon dogs are 
two very different dogs. There is also a greater 
difference in the opinions of hunters, in regard 
to the coon dog than in any other dogs. 

Some want the full blooded hound, and 
some a cross with a foxhound ; here they differ 
again as to what dog to cross with ; others want 
no hound blood at all, but a shepherd ; one wants 
a collie and another just a dog. Then here is a 
hunter who insists on a silent dog; and the next 
one says the silent trailer doesn't camp with him. 

Now as I am not looking for trouble, I will 
agree with all of you. Where coons are plenti- 



BREEDING. 127 

fill and you are likely to strike a eoon track in 
every cornfield, the half bound or even a cur dog, 
will get coons; but wbere tbey are scarce and 
you may tramp until near morning, and then 
strike a trail five or six hours old, if you get that 
coon, you will need a dog with a good nose and 
one that tongues on a trail. But there is one 
point on which you will all agree — if your dog 
does not stay at a tree and bark good and plenty, 
he isn't much of a coon dog. Consequently in 
breeding for coon dogs, this is the most impor- 
tant point. Get as mau}^ other coon points as 
you can, but be sure liis ancestors have been good 
tree dogs, as far back as you can trace them. 

The very reason that there are so many culls 
in this country, is because many hunters think 
a dog is a dog, and that any dog with long ears 
is a hound. Ears count for nothing but looks; 
bent legs, ditto ; the only way that you can per- 
fect the breed, which in your estimation, is the 
ideal, is by choosing the dogs of the best particu- 
lar kind which you prefer. For instance, hoAV 
could a hunter expect to produce a strain of 
dogs with good, loud voices, if he chooses as his 
breeders the poorest squallers in the lot? Na- 
ture is nature, and itMs only by studying her 
laws that we are able to produce our ideal of any 
kind; also, if he wants an intelligent dog, he 



128 HUNTING DOGS. 

must pick out the one with the most desired 
good points, and then he is on the fair way to 
success. 

In short, in order to have a hound that will 
repay you for his training, he must be bred right 
in ever}^ detail or the hunter is doomed to disap- 
pointment. If the hunter does not own a first 
class pair to breed from and cannot secure a 
good strain in his locality, he should buy from a 
reliable dealer, one whom he knows has made a 
success of breeding this class of dogs. It is also 
advisable to buy a young pup as the chances of 
securing the best are alike to all, or even though 
tlie parent dogs are No. 1 in every respect, there 
will be some in the litter that will be weak in 
points before they have reached the age of eight 
months, the breeder himslf will have difficulty in 
choosing any one as the best. 

There is a standard for judging the so-called 
high class pedigree show dogs but which does 
not cut much ice with a fox and coon hunter. 
Regardless of color, the qualities most desirable 
in an all around fox hound are: 1st, staying 
qualities and powers of endurance. 2d, voice, 
feet and general make up. 

Personally, I like a hound that stands from 
20 to 24 inches at shoulder, long in body, deep 
chested, heavy boned with a coat of rather long 
hair, the feet should be round in shape with a 



130 HUNTING DOGS. 

good covering of hair to protect the soles or 
pads. A foxhound should not have a second 
claw on the hind leg for this shows a cross in 
his breeding. A dog that has these claws will 
not stand much hard running in crust for by 
rubbing against trees, etc., they will gradually 
become sore and bleeding, and the hound al- 
though willing enough is handicapped with a 
pair of sore legs. Some hunters cut these claws 
off while young. In the pure strain of fox dogs 
this would be unnecessary as they would not 
have them on. 

The first cost of a young hound is nothing 
compared with the time and trouble it takes to 
bring him to a hunting age. Therefore, it is ad- 
visable to buy the best obtainable for even 
though the price be high at first cost, the hunter 
will be better satisfied for his time and money 
when the dog has fully developed for the chase. 
In making a choice for breeding, select a pair 
that has been thoroughh^ tried and are known to 
have no weak points, such as poor voice, quit- 
ters, back trackers, etc. It is also advisable to 
hunt with the bitch as much as possible up to 
the very time the pups are whelped. The* pups 
will be stronger and better in every way than if 
the mother had been housed in all the time, and 
a hunter will find that a pup so bred will take 
to hunting almost as soon as he can run. 



HUNTING DOGS. 



131 



Do not breed a pair of young dogs, rather 
select if possible, an old dog for a young bitch 
for b}^ breeding two young dogs their pups are 
apt to be hot-headed, over-anxious and these 
qijialities are not wanted in a foxhound. 

To be sure of a strain of dogs the breeder 
must know their ancestors three generations 
back for it is surprising how far back a pup will 
breed from, not only in color but in characteris- 
tics, -habits, etc. 




Fox Hounds. 



CHAPTER XIV — BREEDING (Continued). 
Crossing for Coon Dogs. 

mY experience has been tliat the cross- 
ing of an Engiisli pointer dog and 
American fox hound slut for 'coon 
dogs, are the best I ever saw, writes 
an Ohio night liunter of rare judgment and ex- 
perience, and I will illustrate by relating the 
accomplishments of a certain dog of the breed- 
ing. I will say further that the sire of this 
dog I mention was the most remarkable I ever 
heard of — a fine large pointer, and often when 
hunting quails or pheasants in the woods he 
would bark up and had done it many times be- 
fore they found out the cause. 

One day while hunting pheasants he began 
to bark up a hollow beech stub, and when called, 
refused to leave his post, and his hair was 
slightly raised, which excited the hunter's 
curiosity and they procured an axe and felled 
the stub. To their surprise, two large 'coons 
came rolling out and were dispatched. This 
solved the problem, and after that, he was the 
cause of many 'coons losing their life, as he 
located them in the den and trees where they 

133 



134 HUNTING DOGS. 

had not stepped a foot on the ground. I for 
one can surely recommend this cross to make 

good 'coon dogs. 

* * * 

A few points in regard to a stud dog for 
fox. Pick a dog with a deep chest, good strong 
loin, long head and stands with his feet well 
under him. About the feet — take the foot in 
your hand, press gently, and if it feels firm and 
springy like a piece of rubber, that dog has a 
good foot, which is very necessary in a fox dog, 
but if he has a soft, mushy foot, let that dog 
alone, no matter how good he looks, for he will 
not stand long chases, and the old adage that 
like begets like, will surely show itself in this 

case, 

* * * 

There are a great many worthless dogs, but 
the dogs are not to blame. I am writing on fox 
dogs, but it holds good on all dogs. There is 
always a worthless bitch, and sometimes several 
of them to be had for nothing, and some fellow 
who wants a dog but don't want to pay a fair 
price says, "I'll get that bitch and breed her 
to that dog down at Graysville. They say he's 
a crackerjack, and I'll get some good dogs and 
they won't cost me anything either." 

Well, when the time comes to breed it's 



BREEDING (CONTINUED). 135 

^Ye miles to Graysville, and the roads are awful 
muddy, and he concluded to breed to Jim Jones' 
dog just over the way, saying he ain't much of 
a dog, and a cousin to the bitch, but his great- 
grandmother got more foxes than any dog over 
in these parts, and some of the pups will breed 
back. He gets eight or ten pups, which he gets 
perhaps fl.OO a piece for, and it costs just as 
much to raise a poor one as a good one. The 
owners spend a lot of time trying to make dogs 
of them and have nothing at last. 

In a running dog these are the qualities I 
think are needed. First, endurance, because no 
dog can make a race after a red fox without 
it. Then speed, a good nose, lots of ambition, 
good sense and the more of that the better; 
and will need to be able to hear well to enable 
him to cut corners if he happens to get behind, 
as any dog is liable to do. 

After the pups are born, don't let the bitch 
run until they are weaned, for it will hurt both 
mother and puppies. Should she get very hot 
and then get to her pups you would likely lose 
some or perhaps all of them. 

Here we have still another favorite breed 
for 'coon hunting, advanced by an old and tried 
hunter. Says he : My choice of a breed of 'coon 
dog is a grade hound crossed on 'a bull or one- 



136 HUNTING D0G9. 

half hound, one fourth rat terrier and one- 
fourth Scotch collie or shepherd or fox hound 
and beagle. 

Says another : A hound to be a fine ranger 
does not require many years of training if he 
comes from a sire and dam that were both ofood 
rangers and which their own sire and dam and 
grand sire and grand dam were all good and 
highly trained dogs. He is sure to hang from 
them and any sportsman having dogs of that 
strain will enjoy the use of his dog at once, but 
where it takes three or five seasons and some- 
times more to make a good dog, is when they 
come from exhibition stock or from stock that 
have never been broken right. If a hound is 
wrongly taught to hunt he will always be a 
crazy dog and will, if bred, give poor hunters 
exactly like -himself. 

An Ohio Fox Hunter goes on record thus: 
In breeding hounds some seem to expect great 
work on any line they wish to see the hound, 
not stopping to think everything to its kind and 
everything to be perfect must be true to his 
nature. The bloodhound is true to his nature 
with reasonable opportunity. He is a man 
trailer, a large, strong dog, built for strength 
and endurance but not for fleetness which all 
breeders concede the 'coon dog should be built 
upon. Strong in my opinion with strong jaws, 



BREEDING (CONTINUED). 137 

good size and a good muzzle, a good scent with 
as much speed and determination as you can 
inject into their blood. 

I am now speaking of coon dogs. They may 
be bred almost any way and yet be good coon 
dogs but I find it is just as necessary to have 
them bred from coon hunting stock as for any 
dog or animal to be trained for any specific or 
especial purpose. It must be bred with that ob- 
ject in view and as much of that blood and dis- 
position injected into the veins as is possible to 
get 

The fox hound is a special or specific type 
or breed of dog. 'He is bred for it, built for it, 
trained for it and if a true type of hound, is it. 
Not all well bred dogs are fox dogs nor are all 
well bred horses fast. Only one in many. But 
in order to have grounds to expect speed, we 
must have breeding, as the saying goes, "Blood 
T^all tell." Some are daffy on pedigree, others 
must have even^thing registered, others ask only 
for the swing and staying qualities of their an- 
cestors, etc. 

All breeds of hounds have some worthless, 
yet some may be fairly good along some particu- 
lar line and very much at fault in others. Some 
have speed but cannot be got to use it, will not 
get in with a pack and run to a finish. Some 
will run with, a slow pack all right but put them 



138 HUNTING DOGS. 

in with a fast pack and they will have their gal- 
lop out in from one to two hours. They seem to 
have all the courage necessary but not the speed. 
Some will go after the first fox trail they ever 
smell of and others you have to train to follow. 

I think this difference largely between the 
dog that is allowed to run at large and one raised 
in a corral. One is fearful of everything, the 
other fearless and full of self-confidence. Con- 
fidence is worth much in both dog and man. So 
many cannot run unless they have their noses 
directly over the trail and have no driving in- 
stinct. If they lose the trail, go back and get it 
and bring it up to where they lost it before. So 
for several times, perhaps, before getting away, 
the dog running all the time, Mr. Fox sitting 
down waiting, resting. You never hear of such 
dogs catching or holding a fox. They seem to be 
willing but lack the tact and fox sense. 

I would say to breeders there are only a few 
characteristics necessary for good foxhounds 
and every breeder should see to this with 
careful study and tests. First — Courage. Do 
not breed a dog on either side that has not got it. 
It will crop out to make you ashamed of your 
dog some time. Second — Speed. It is just as 
natural for the lover of a chase to want to be 
ahead, as for the lover of the horse race, but we 
cannot all be so 5 often we find it easy to beat 



BREEDING (CONTINUED). 139 

our slow packs in tlie neighborhood and how we 
swell up and think we can best anybody until we 
get away from home and get that bubble pricked. 

Other qualifications as to form and shape. 
A dog should be compact enough to be strong. 
He should be just as long as he can be to gather 
quickly. A dog too long turning on all kinds 
of ground is like a horse with a very long stride 
trying to go fast on a short track. His stride 
is too long for the lay of the ground. Another 
qualification and not in the least, — is voice. 
The dog tJmt has no voice holds not the highest 
place in his owner's pride. A good hound, one 
prized by his owner and loved by the lover of the 
chase must do three things at once, run fast, 
carry the trail and tongue well. These requisi- 
tions make a good fox dog and if his shape and 
symmetry is good, he is a valued dog. 

Breeders should look to it that these quali- 
ties are bred for at tlie sacrifice of everything 
else. There may be places, especially in very 
hilly country, that a small hound is best. In 
this section, give me a good, medium large dog, 
say from 22 to 24 inches at shoulder and built 
in proportion with from 16 to 18 inches earage. 
Color is a matter of taste. I believe that our 
English cousins breed them so straight that the 
spots and marks are stamped on all alike. I 
have heard it said so much that a stranger could 



140 HUNTING DOGS. 

hardly see any difference in a pack and when 
the American breeder gets to giving so much at- 
tention to their breeding, then Ave will soon have 
a true type of hound. 

Then I will say courage, driving with cour- 
age goes largely, speed and voice, good sound 
chest and body, good wide head and long muz- 
zle, good bone and heavy forearm, good long 
back, good sound feet, Avell padded, with black 
upper mouth, a hazel eye, a strong loin and not 
too much flank. Regardless of color you have 
my ideal fox hound. 



CHAPTER XV. 

PECULIARITIES OF DOGS AND PRACTICAL HINTS. 

nEVER purchase a dog from an unknown 
party unless the said party can supply 
good references and testimonials regard- 
ing the square dealing and the merits of 
his strain of dogs. If a man cannot give you 
this, wait until you find one who can. 

Some people are inclined to believe that a 
big dog cannot compete with a smaller one. 
:\rost of them have to come to this conclusion be- 
cause they have seen some big sloppy and lazy 
hound, but take a big, well built, lively, fleet and 
nervous hound, and full of grit and he will hold 
his own and more. It is just like trying to make 
a pony cover the same ground as a roadster, de- 
clares a lover of hounds. 

A pup of most any large breed of dogs will 
make a good watch dog if properly brought up. 
If fondled and played with while young by every- 
body that happened to come to the house, then 
the dog will be playful and friendly with people 
always later on. If to be made cross and shun 
strangers, the pup should be reared in a lot with 
high board fence to prevent him seeing what goes 

141 



142 HUNTING D0G9. 

on outside. The owner, in disguise, or better 
still some other person, should now and then 
pound against the fence, look over the top so 
the dog gets a glimx^se at supposed intruders; 
partly open the gate and peek in, let the dog 
make a rush towards him but slam gate shut be- 
fore quite coming up, etc. Such practice will 
make any dog watchful and cross towards all 
strangers, and will never make friends with any 
but his master. For an imposing, powerful and 
the best of watch dogs get a Mastiff or a Great 
Dane. 

It is not wise to expect too much of a new 
dog. Some of them will fret and worry after 
their friends and home for a long time, will 
hardly eat or drink, and it takes the best of care 
and attention to bring good results. Eventually 
they will become acquainted and regain their old 
form, if properl^^ encouraged. 

I never pet my dogs while hunting except 
after killing game which in my opinion is pretty 
good policy as a dog like a man likes to have 
credit for what he had done. Remember also, 
though contrary to the old fashioned theory that 
it is just as unreasonable to ask a dog to hunt 
without food as it would be to hitch up a horse 
and drive him all day without either hay or 
grain, there has been many a good dog called a 
"quitter'^ simply because he was weak from the 



PECULIARITIES OF DOGS^ ETC. 143 

lack of food. As for a quitter, in my opinion a 
vast majority of them have never commenced, not 
because they had a '^yellow streak/' as most 
hunters say, but because like the Irishman's pig^, 
they have too many streaks of lean. As your 
dog is a better friend to you than most people 
of the J. Sneakum caliber, why not treat him 
right? 

In some journals there is considerable criti- 
cism and complaints, and sometimes one feels 
like steering shy of many advertisements of fox 
hounds. One publication invites all persons to 
inform its editor where any dog has been mis- 
represented and sold through its columns. No 
doubt in many instances it may be the fault of 
the purchaser handling a strange dog. I pur- 
chased a dog that followed at my heels for sev- 
eral trips and would not leave me until one day 
he put his nose in a fresh trail. The other dog 
was out of hearing when he went out in a good 
race, tongueing in good shape, and was a No. 1 
fox hound. 

When a sportsman wishes to purchase a 
strange hound if he desires to get a good one he 
must pay the price and the way for him to not 
be fooled is to deposit his money at the express 
office and then have the dog sent on trial and if 
not satisfactory, he returns the dog and pays the 
express charges one way. This is the only safe 



144 HUNTING DOGS. 

way to get a good dog, as a man that will accept 
these conditions will most certainly send you the 
right stuff at once and not a ^'culF', that he has 
scraped somewhere for |5.00 and sells jou from 
$15 to $30. 

It's detrimental to allow a bird dog to roam 
and go self-hunting. Not being restricted he 
gets in all sorts of mischief. Keeping at home 
is the only remedy. To give ample exercise ar- 
range a trolley in the yard by driving two stakes 
into ground without projecting ; fasten a strong 
Avire to top of posts and on this slip a ring to 
slide on; to this snap the chain and the dog can 
run up and down the full length of wire. With- 
in a few days he will learn the extent of run and 
chase up and down the full length for hours at 
a time, then be content and restful. 

By nature dogs are cleanly and will not 
soil their bed or kennel if to be avoided. Being 
shut up in a small place may cause them to be 
uncleanly and soil the floor, making it disagree- 
able, as by rolling in play all the dogs will con- 
stantly present soiled appearance. However, 
even in a small kennel this can be regulated as 
follows: Thoroughly clean out the place and 
scrub; in one corner bore some holes into floor 
and spread saAvdu^t OA^er this part only; litter 
the rest of space Avith clean straw and besprinkle 
this Avuth some strong disinfectant. Turn in the 



PECULIARITIES OF DOGS^ ETC. 145 

dQgs. At once one or more will go to sawdust 
portion, — this done the ice is broken and hence- 
forth all the dogs will use this part only as re- 
tiring place, leaving the remainder perfectly 
clean. 

Teach your hound not to be afraid of water, 
and to circle the tree and to keep an eye on the 
coon and to bark treed, but never allow him to 
get Avhipped by any coon at first as this will dis- 
courage him. Not only this, but the coon may 
blind him should he strike him in the eye. It is 
better always to hold or tie the dog before shoot- 
ing the coon, and when he drops to make sure 
that he cannot fight much more before allowing 
the dog near him. 



n 



D 



CHAPTER XVI. 

AILMENTS OF THE DOG. 

OGS as well as people sometimes fall ill. 
Proper care and sanitary lodgings will re- 
duce the danger, but sickness will occa- 
sionally occur, no matter how great the 
precautions. 

Dog owners should therefore acquaint them- 
selves with the commoner forms of ailment to 
which dogs are subject and thus be in a position 
to quickly administer such relief as is possible, 
thereby frequently stopping a sick spell promptly 
that might otherAvise result seriously if not fa- 
tally. 

The dog is very similar to man in his ail- 
ments as well as in his susceptibility to drugs. 
As a general tiling medicine that is good for a 
human being is good for a dog under similar cir- 
cumstances. ''While no definite rule can be laid 
down" says an eminent authority, ''it may be 
said that a dose suitable for an adult person is 
correct for the largest dogs, such as St. Ber- 
nards; for dogs from forty to fifty pounds the. 
dose should correspond with that given to a child 
twelve to fourteen years of age, and so on down.'' 

I4e 



AILMENTS OF THE DOG. 147 

Few veterinarians make a study of the dog, 
and they rarely are of an}^ use when called. 
However, those who have made a special study 
may be consulted with advantage and saving. 

We have not the space here to go into an ex- 
haustive recitation of dog diseases, symptoms, 
treatment and remedies. If you are at a loss 
concerning your dog, write to one of the Dog 
Doctors, whose advertisements appear in sport- 
ing magazines, and he can no doubt diagnose 
the case and forward the medicine you require 
at a minimum cost. In nearly all cases he will 
forward you a free booklet describing the preva- 
lent diseases and his remedies applicable to 
same. 

The following from the pen of H. Clay Glo- 
ver, V. S., will no doubt give many readers some 
light on one of the common afflictions that prove 
so troublesome. 

INDIGESTION IN DOGS. 

Eczema is a frequent symptom, and let me 
state right here that I find more cases of ecze- 
matous eruptions arising from a disordered con- 
dition of the digestion than any other cause. 
Doubtless many who will read this will recog- 
nize the fact that at some time some certain dog 
has had some obstinate skin trouble, all kinds 
of which are by the layman diagnosed as 



148 HUNTING, DOGS. 

"mange", and that, after trying various mange 
cures to wliicli the trouble has not yielded, the 
blood has been treated with no better results. 

To any one who have, or may have in the 
future, indigestion cases, let me advise the fol- 
lowing treatment, viz. : Feed rather sparingly 
three times a day on raw or scraped beef, this 
being the most readily accepted and most easily 
digested of all foods when the digestion is dis- 
ordered, allowing no other diet, and giving im- 
mediately after each meal one of the digestive 
pills. Add to the drinking water lime water in 
the proportion of one to thirty. 

By following this treatment as laid down, 
many cases of eczema will disappear. Some 
probably, may be accelerated by the use of a skin 
lotion in conjunction. Eczema in these cases is 
merely a symptom appearing in evidence of dis- 
ordered digestion. Indigestion may be consid- 
ered as a mild form of gastritis, which if not 
corrected, will be followed by true gastritis, the 
stomach then being in such condition that noth- 
ing is retained, even water being returned im- 
mediately after drinking. This will be accom- 
panied by fever, colic, emaciation and only too 
often followed by death. 

DISTI]MPER. 

We quote further from Dr. Glover's booklet, 



AILMENTS OF THE DOG. 149 

some practical information on another of the 
more common dog ailments : 

The term distemper is particularly applied 
to animals of the brute creation; to the dog 
when afflicted with that disease somewhat resem- 
bling tjqDhiis fever in the human race. We have 
now become quite familiar with the nature of the 
disease and the remedies indicated ; consequently 
the loss by death is comparatively small when 
proper treatment and attention are employed. 
In early days, those dogs that were fortunate 
enough to survive this disease did so merely 
through strength of constitution and not from 
the assistance of any remedial agent, as utter 
ignorance of the subject then prevailed. The dis- 
ease doubtless then appeared in a much milder 
form than that with which our present highly 
bred animals are afflicted. 

Owing to more or less inbreeding that has 
been indulged in to intensify certain forms and 
characteristics in dogs of most all breeds, con- 
stitution has to some extent been sacrificed. An- 
imals bred in this way are in consequence less 
able to resist or combat disease than those with 
less pretentious claims to family distinction. 

Causes — Bad sanitary conditions, crowded 
or poorly drained kennels, exposure to dampness, 
insufficient or over feeding, improper diet, lack 
of fresh air and exercise, all conduce to the de- 



150 HUNTING DOGS. 

velopment of distemper. It is contagious, in- 
fectious, and will frequently appear spontane- 
ously without any apparent cause in certain lo- 
calities, assuming an epidemic form. Age is no 
exemption from distemper, though it more fre- 
quently attacks young animals than adults. Very 
few dogs pass through life without having it at 
some period. 

Symptoms — In early stages, dullness, loss 
of appetite, sneezing, chills, fever, undue mois- 
ture of the nose, congestion of the eyes, nausea, a 
gagging cough accompanied by the act of vomi- 
tion, though rarely anything is voided (if any- 
thing, it will be a little mucous), thirst, a desire 
to lie in a warm place, and rapid emaciation. 
This is quickly followed by mucopurulent dis- 
charge from the eyes and nose; later, perhaps, 
ulceration of either eyes or eyelids. Labored 
respiration, constipation or obstinate diarrhoea, 
usually the latter, which frequently runs into 
inflammation of the bowels. 

In some cases many of the above symptoms 
will be absent, the bowels being the first parts 
attacked. The following, which sometimes, but 
not necessarily, occur with distemper, I classify 
as complications, viz. : Fits, Chorea, Paralysis, 
Pneumonia or Bronco-Pneumonia, Jaundice, and 
Inflammation of the Bowels, and will require 



AILMENTS OF THE DOG. 151 

treatment independent of any one remedy that 
may be given. 

Treatment — Tlie animal should be placed 
in warm, dry quarters, and hygienic conditions 
strictly observed. With puppies, at the start 
give vermifuge, as nearly all have worms which 
add greatly to the irritation of stomach, bowels 
and nervous system. 

The bedding should be changed daily and 
the apartment disinfected twice a week. 

Feed frequently on easily digested, nutri- 
tious diet, such as beef tea or mutton broth, 
thickened with rice. Let all food be slightly cool, 
and keep fresh cold water at all times within 
reach of the animal. If constipation be present 
give warm water and glycerine enemas, and an 
occasional dose of castor oil if necessary. Should 
the bowels become too much relaxed with any 
tendency to inflammation, feed entirely upon 
food, such as arrowroot, farina or corn starch 
Avith well boiled milk, as even beef tea is some- 
what of an irritation to the stomach and bowels. 

In the treatment of distemper, one great 
object is to keep up the general strength, so 
in case of extreme debility a little whisky in milk 
or milk punches may be allowed. 

If your efforts are not successful and you 
are in danger of losing one or more good dogs, 



152 HUNTING DOGS. 

write a specialist. It would require fifty pages 
of this book to go into the subject fully. 

RHEUMATISM. 

Acute rheumatism in the dog is similar to 
that in the human body, effecting the joints. 
IMuscular rheumatism settles in the muscles. 
If given early 5 to 15 grains, twice a day, of 
salicate of sodium is a most excellent preventa- 
tive measure. A severe case demands more 
elaborate care. 

RICKETS. 

Those accustomed to dogs have seen cases 
of rickets. It is a constitutional or inherited 
affliction, and attacks puppies most frequently. 
Nothing can be done save kill the sufferer if the 
attack is severe, or build up the health generally, 
toward outgrowing the trouble, if mild. 

These are only a few of the ailments the 
faithful dog is heir to; yet in a general w^ay, a 
healthy dog is no more subject to disease than 
a healthy person, and in many cases the old 
family watch dog will pass a long and useful 
life with no more serious trouble than he can 
readily cope with, with the assistance of nature. 

We add some practical advice from Mr. 
Amer Braley of Dade Co., Florida, as to what 
will cure canker in the ears of dogs, a prevalent 



AILMENTS OP THE DOG. 153 

and aggravating trouble : Will say I have cured 
cases of it of long standing by working boracic 
acid well into their ears, usually a few appli- 
cations does the work. 

There is a disease that kills more dogs in 
Florida than all the other causes put together. 
It is called sore mouth, black tongue, new di- 
sease and other names. I lost some fine hounds 
of this disease, usually dying from six to eight 
days from the time of showing disease. Sjanp- 
toms of it are generally languor, dullness about 
the eyes, little or no appetite, sometimes feverish 
and a dryness about the mouth and at other 
times slobbers hang down from the mouth. 

They seem anxious to drink water but are 
unable to swallow it. Their tongues seem to be 
somewhat paralyzed, they can hardly pick up 
anything. They usually want to roam around 
where they will not be molested. I will give a 
remedy that I have which has cured several cases 
of this disease with the only ones I ever knew to 
survive it. I will give it for it may be the means 
of saving the lives of some good dogs. 

"A gelatin coated pill or capsule of quinine 
containing five grains twice a day for two days, 
then one each day for a week.'' Also swab out 
their mouth with the following: "Chlorate 
potassium half ounce, murvate tincture iron half 
ounce. Put into one pint of water and shake 



154 HUNTING DOGS. 

well. Tie rag or cotton to stick, letting it pro- 
trude over the end, and swab out the mouth two 
or three times a day." 

You want to go right at once to giving the 
remedy for if the disease runs 36 hours I don't 
think there is any cure for it. The size doses 
mentioned here are for good-sized dogs as grown 
hounds. Smaller ones and pups reduce accord- 
ingly. 

There is another disease that dogs are some- 
times taken with in this country. Some say it is 
caused by ticks. It is called "staggers" as the 
dog that is affected with it staggers as he walks. 
It seems as though they can't manage their hind 
parts. Sometimes they break down and have to 
drag their hind parts (sled fashion.) 

A remedy that I have never known to fail 
yet for that is-: Lard and spirits of turpentine 
about equal parts mixed and bathe in well across 
the kidneys and also across the back of head 
where it joins to neck. Usually two or three ap- 
plications makes a cure. 



PART III. 



DOG LORE. 

155 



p 



CHAPTER XVII. 

STILL TRAILERS VS. TONGUERS. MUSIC. 

ERHAPS no more mooted question enters 
in for so widely separated opinion as 
the comparative superiority of the Still 
Trailing dog and the Tonguers. 

The still or mute trailer is the deer, rabbit 
or night dog which does not give tongue on the 
trail. He keeps his silence, until his game is 
treed or in sight and about to tree. 

The tonguer gives forth a joyous and lusty 
cry as soon as he makes a strike, and continues 
to do so until the chase terminates. When treed 
he changes his bark, so that usually the hunter 
can distinguish between the signals. 

We shall withhold personal opinion as to 
the preferable style, and present the arguments 
of a number of adherents on both sides of the 
question, allowing the reader to come to his own 
conclusion. 

A West Virginia 'coon expert says, in favor 
of the tonguer: I have had several good 'coon 
dogs, both tonguers and silent trailers. This is 
a hilly, brusliy country, with lots of deep hol- 
lows. The best 'coon dog I ever had was a three- 

157 



158 HUNTING DOGS. 

fourths fox hound, one-fourth bull dog. He was 
very fast with a good nose and a wide hunter. 
He never struck a cold trail and went straight 
ahead all the time. He has started a 'coon half 
a mile away from me and would go right out of 
hearing of me, and I would follow the way 1 
would judge the 'coon to travel and would be 
hours finding him barking treed. If he had been 
a mute trailer I would have left him in the 
woods without the slightest idea where he was 
and that is no fun when you have gone three or 
four miles walk from home to get a 'coon chase. 

Another brother puts it this way : Some 
hunters prefer a still trailer on a cold trail. I 
have handled both kinds but it is an advantage 
to the hunter in keeping in touch with his hound 
if the hound will "wind his horn" occasionally 
on a cold trail for very often a wide hound will 
travel a couple of miles on a cold trail before 
starting the game. In windy weather, the 
hunters might be at a loss to know in which di- 
rection his dog was working, if he did not hear 
him. I like a dog with a loud, clear voice and 
one that keeps the music going steady once the 
game is afoot." 

Still another gives voice to his sentiment 
thus : I want a good tonguer, one that will give 
me no trouble in keeping the direction they are 
going. One that is a courser, that is, that never 



STILL TRAILERS VS. TONGUERS. MUSIC. 159 

foots around trying to find every track a 'coon 
makes, but keeps on finding ahead anywhere 
from a hundred yards to a quarter of a mile. 
That kind of a dog keeps you awake when cold 
trailing, and is apt to warm up at any time. 

A Western tonguer adherent says : For 
'coon I like the cold trailer that lets you know 
where he is going, and don't believe they will 
hole any sooner for him than a still trailer, and 
I never saw a full blooded hound still track. 
My hounds give a long whoop every few rods on 
cold trail, and will ''back brush" a 'coon or wolf 
that is many hours old but will find him, and 
you can follow up so as to keep in hearing. My 
dogs are quite fast but I do not go back on a 
moderately slow dog to shoot after. I think 
they circle better. 

From/ Indian Territory comes this addition 
to the testimony: The thoroughbred hound for 
'coon is my view after 40 years' experience. A 
good many are giving their idea as to which is 
best, the still trailer or the dog that gives tongue. 
I have never known a thoroughbred hound fail 
to give tongue on trail. The thoroughbred has 
the greatest powers of scent and this is very 
important as you do not have to travel so much 
ground to find a trail that he can run. Wliat 
we want when we go after 'coon is to start and 
catch all we can, If we cannot start one we 



160 HUNTING DOGS. 

cannot catch him, sure. I have folloAved behind 
over the same ground Avith my hound that 
another party had been over with their still 
trailers and caught more 'coon than they. 

And again if you are out on a windy night 
and your still trailer gets a 'coon treed to the 
windward of you, you might as well go home as 
there will be no more fun for you if he is a 
good tree dog. 

Now just one thing more in regard to still 
trailers catching 'coon on the ground. That has 
not been my experience, for you all know when 
you go a rabbit hunting with a still trailer, how 
soon the rabbit will hole. He has no warning 
where the dog is, so in trailing 'coon, the 'coon 
will wait and listen to the hound and if he is a 
fast runner, Mr. 'Coon has waited too long. He 
must make for the nearest tree or get caught. 
With the still trailer, the 'coon hears the leaves 
and brush snapping and without any more warn- 
ing makes for his home tree. 

Hundreds of hunters take this view, that is, 
favor the dog which barks from the time he takes 
up the trail. The principal advantage as has 
been pointed out, is that the hound an4 hunter 
may thus keep in closer touch, and that the 
hunter is treated to "music," so sweet to the ear 
of the average enthusiast. 



STILL TRAILERS VS. TONGUERS. MUSIC. 161 

Another considerable followino^, however, at 
once take issue and present an array of argu- 
ment in favor of the dog which keeps his silence. 

Let us first consider the views of a con- 
servative Pennsj^lvania brother, in favor of the 
still trailer: I see a good many 'coon hunters 
disagree on 'coon dogs, still trailers vs. tongue- 
ing dogs. Now in my experience, I have used 
nearly all kinds of 'coon dogs, some good ones 
and some not so good. I think the difference is 
in the kind of country to be hunted, for hunt- 
ing in a very rough country that is cut up by 
long hollows and large tracts of timber I prefer 
a tongueing dog. 

For hunting in this locality where it is all 
cut up into small fields with principally all rail 
fences and timber in small blocks, mostly cut 
over by lumbermen and nothing left but hollow 
trees and brush, I prefer a still trailer by long 
odds, as the noisy dog gives the 'coon warning 
as soon as he strikes the trail, then Mr. 'Coon 
takes to the rail fence or a jungle of briers and 
old tree tops and begins to get busy and is soon 
in one of those hollow trees, where he is per- 
fectly safe as far as I am concerned, for I never 
cut down any den trees. 

The still trailer does his work quietly and 
is right on to the 'coon before it is aware that 

11 



162 HUNTING DOGS. 

the dog IS after it. So Mr. 'Coon is obliged to 
climb whatever kind of a tree there is handy 
and very often is taken on the ground. 

From a Central States hunter's letter: I 
used to be a dear lover of a dog that would bark 
on trail and raise some of them, but now my 
choice is a still trailer, as a quiet trailer suits 
this locality best on account of the thickly popu- 
lated country and the great amount of stock 
raised, and a great many farmers claim the con- 
stant barking of dogs frightens their sheep. For 
that reason fox chasing is fast losing its interest 
and foxes are becoming quite a nuisance in the 
destruction of quail, pheasant, rabbit and such 
like game. 

A brother of conviction on this question 
writes : It takes patience, perseverance and 
skill to properly train a hound for 'coon. First, 
the dog must be silent until he finds the hot 
scent, so as not to give Mr. 'Coon time to com- 
mence his sunny ways, as the 'coon has a good 
knowledge box and lots of strings to his bow 
which he uses to evade Mr. Hound. He will 
swim down and sometimes up stream and often 
crosses them. Will never miss a hollow log 
and comes out at the other end, and will climb 
leaning trees and leap from them to others and 
may return to the stream for a good long swim 
before he will make quietly for his den. This 



STILL TRAILERS VS. TONGUERS. MUSIC. 163 

is what an old 'coon will often do with a noisy 
dog, but with a swift and silent one he will have 
to climb at once and stay there. 

Another telling stroke for silence : Regard- 
ing silent trailers : By silent trailer I mean 
a dog that will not tongue the very instant he 
finds an old trail when there is yet some scent, 
but that will work it quietly until he starts the 
game. I have often seen hounds roar on an 
old scent as well as on a new one. These dogs 
have generally a special gait, which they keep 
steady whether the trail is cold or hot, and give 
the full cry the whole time, and also often come 
to a full stop to blast away a few louder roars. 
These dogs dwell too long on the scent for me. 
My strain of dogs will open only when they are 
on a hot scent; if cold, they will cover the 
ground silently and fast. 

A swift dog cannot keep up the full cry, 
but will give a roar now and then and not bark 
often as it takes a lot of wind to roar. There- 
fore, a dog cannot be a flyer and a roarer in the 
meantime, and a deer, fox, lynx or 'coon, chased 
by a fleet and silent dog as above mentioned, v> ill 
have to point at once for safety, and will ha^^e 
no spare time for tricks. The lynx or 'coon will 
have to climb in a hurry the first tree he finds, 
while with a noisy dog Mr. 'Coon will comujence 
with his tricks as soon as he will hear the music, 



164 



HUNTING DOGS. 



and I maintain and stand ready to prove tliat a 
silent trailer as I have described will water 
more deer in five hours in this country than a 
noisy one will in five days. 

THE MUSIC OF THE HOUND. 
The term "music" as applied to the barking 




"He Was Here a Moment Ago !" 

of trailing hunting dogs, is to the uninitiated 
a gross misnomer, 

''Isn't that music grand!" exclaimed an 
enthusiast afield. 

''I can hear no music for the noise those 
dogs are making/' replied the other. And so 
it goes. 



STILL TRAILERS VS. TONGUEKS. MUSIC. 165 

The liound is the master orator, with a com- 
mand of language that varies from uncertainty, 
joy, anxiety, conviction, eagerness with great 
clearness and truth. His shades of meaning are 
accurately intonated and iDcrfectly comprehend- 
ible to the well versed hunter. 

The hound is looked upon with disdain by 
people who know not his capabilities, and is con- 
sidered in the nature of the dunce of the tribe. 
Well do the well informed know that he is the 
most delicately strung and the most highly emo- 
tional type we have. 

Every note that he utters is an expression 
of emotion. Because emotion is more sus- 
ceptible to music than any other agejicy, his 
code of expression is likened unto notes of 
music, and with more fidelity than some instru- 
mental sound producers committed in the name 
of music. 

A student of this pure and undefiled lan- 
guage says : "Each note represents a particular 
feeling, and the whole harmoniously blended, 
tells a simple story in a pleasing way." 

Now the hound takes up the cold trail. He 
signals his master — there are notes of ex- 
pectancy and hope in the tone. As the scent 
grows warmer, his tone of hope rises. He 
mlakes a loss. Could anything express regret 
and chagrin any more plainly than his doleful 



166 



HUNTING DOGS. 



cry? Back on the trail. Then joy again. Then 
comes the excited, imperative, anxious yet joy- 
ous fortissimo scale running when the quarry 
trees. 




■H( 



He Is!" 



He who has not been schooled in classical 
music sits bored and alone at the production of 
an opera, or yawns and wishes he were at home 
in bed, as the vigorous long haired performer 



STILL TRAILERS VS. TONGUERS. MUSIC. 167 

spells out his emotions on the piano key board. 
So it is that one with no ear for music of the 
hound is disgusted thruout the sally to the 
woods at night, or the fields by day. He can 
dwell upon nothing save the scratches, falls and 
efforts required, all of which another forgets 
in fixing his attention on the action and music 
of the chase. 

Some hounds are better singers than others, 
just as is the ca^e with people. Also he must 
be trained to perform pleasingly and truly. If 
he is well trained and is certain in his move- 
ments it will be reflected in his music. If he 
is faulty in foot and head work he will also be- 
tray these faults in his voice. Anxious to cover 
his own shortcomings, he takes to guessing and 
guesses wrong. He becomes a liar, and his 
singing is like unto the fellow with a cracked 
voice who insists on singing in the church choir, 
thereby annoying everybody. 

An experienced hunter can tell by the song 
of a hound how capable he is, even if there were 
not many other ways of fixing values. 

Bring up a hound under proper training 
methods, and he is almost certain to prove a rare 
musician. 

If you are not versed in music of this kind, 
you are unfortunate, and should join the fox 
or 'coon hunters and take a course of lessons, 
It is well worth while. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE DOG ON THE TRAP LINE 

$OME trappers will take issue in regard to 
the advantages and disadvantages of the 
dog on the trap line. 
The subject holds sufficient interest, 
however, to warrant a chapter, and if some 
lonesome trappers benefit thereby, our effort 
shall stand justified. 

Now, we will say first that there is as much 
or more difference in the man who handles the 
dog as there is in the different breeds of dogs. 
We have heard men say that they wanted no 
dog on the trap line with them, and that they 
didn't believe that any one who did want a dog 
on the trap line knew but very little about trap- 
ping at the best. 

Now those are the views and ideas of some 
trappers, while my experience has led me to 
see it otherwise. One wlio is so constituted 
that they must give a dog the growl or perhaps 
a kick every time they come in reach, will un- 
doubtedly find a dog of but little, use on the trap 
line. We have known some dogs to refuse to eat, 
and would lay out where they could watch in 

168 



THE DOG ON THE TRAP LINE. 169 

the direction in which their master had gone 
and piteously howl for hours, waiting- the return 
of the master and friend. I have seen other 
dogs that would take for the barn or any other 
place to get out of the way at the first sight or 
sound of their master. This man's dog is usually 
more attached to a stranger than to his master. 
The man wlio cannot treat his dog as a friend 
and companion will have good cause to say that 
a dog is a nuisance on the trap line. 

I have seen men training dogs for bird 
hunting, who Avould treat the dog most cruelly 
and claim that a dog could not be trained to 
work a bird succesfully under any other treat- 
ment. Though I have seen others train the 
same breed of dogs to work a bird to perfection 
and tint their most harsh treatment would be a 
tap or two with a little switch. I will say that 
one who cannot understand the wag of a dog's 
tail, the wistful gaze of the eye, the quick lift- 
ing of the ears, the cautious raising of a foot, 
and above all, treat his dog as a friend, need 
expect his dog to be but little else than a 
nuisance on the trap line. 

Several years ago I had a partner who had 
a dog, part stag liound and the other part just 
dog, I think. One day he (my partnel') asked 
if I would object to his bringing the dog to camp, 
saying that his wife was going on a visit and 



170 HUNTING DOGS. 

he had no place to leave the dog. I told him 
that if he had a good dog I would be glad to 
have him in camp. In a day or two pard went 
home and brought in the dog. Well, when he 
came the dog was following along behind his 
master with tail and ears drooping, and looking 
as though he never heard a kind word in his 
life. I asked if the animal was anv good and 
he replied that he did not know how good he 
was. I asked the name of the dog. He said, 
"Oh, I call him Pont.'' I spoke to the dog, call- 
ing him by name. He looked at me wistfully, 
wagging his tail. The look that dog gave me said 
to me as plainly as words that this was the first 
kind word he had ever heard. 

We went inside and the dog started to fol- 
low, when his master in a harsh voice said, "get 
out of here.'' I said, "where do you expect the 
dog to go?" I then took an old coat that was 
in the camp, placed it in the corner and called 
gently to Pont, patted the coat and told him to 
lay down on the coat, which he did. I patted 
him saying that is a good place for Pont, and 
I can see that wistful gaze the dog gave me, now. 
After we had our supper I asked my partner 
if he wasn't going to fix Pont some supper. "Oh, 
after a while I will see if I can't find something 
for him." I took a biscuit from the table, spread 
some butter on it, called the dog to me, broke 



THE DOG ON THE TRAP LINE. 171 

the biscuit in pieces, and gave it to the dog 
from n^y hand; then I found an old basin that 
chanced to be about the camp and fixed the dog 
a good supper. 

After the dog had finished his supper I went 
to the coat in the corner, spoke gently to Pont, 
patted the coat, and told him to lay down on the 
coat. That was the end of that, Pont knew his 
place and took it without any further rouble. 

The next morning when we were about 
ready to start out on the trap line I asked Pard 
what he intended to do with Pont. He said that 
he would tie him to a tree that stood against 
the shanty close to the door. We were going to 
take different lines of traps. I said, "What is 
the harm of Pont's going with me?'' "All right, 
if you want him, I don't want any dog with me." 
I said, "Am, (that was Pard's given name, for 
short) I don't believe the dog wants to go with 
you any more than you want him to. Am's 
reply was that he guessed he would go all right 
if he wanted him. I said. Am, just for shucks, 
say nothing to the dog and see which one he will 
follow. So we stepped outside the shack and 
the dog stood close to me. 

I said, "Go on Am, and we will see who the 
dog will follow.'^ He started off and the dog 
only looked at him. Am stopped and told the 
dog to come on. The dog got around behind me. 



172 HUNTING DOGS. 

Am said, "If I wanted you to come, you would 
come or I would break your neck/' I said, "No, 
Am, you won't break Pout's neck while I am 
around; it would not look nice." 

I started on my way, Pont following after I 
had gone a little ways. I spoke to Pont, pat- 
ting him on the head and told him what a good 
dog he was. He jumped about and showed more 
ways than one how pleased he was, and from 
that day until we broke camp, Pont stayed with 
me. He showed plainly the disgust he had for 
his master. 

It so happened that the first trap I came to 
was a trap set in a spring run, and it had a 'coon 
in it. I allowed Pont to help kill the 'coon, and 
after the 'coon was dead, I patted Pont and told 
him what great things he had done in capturing 
the 'coon. Pont showed what pride he took in 
the hunt, so much so that he did not like to have 
Am go near the pelt. I saw from the very first 
day out that all that Pont needed was kind 
treatment and proper training to make a good 
help on the trap line. 

I was careful to let him know what I was 
doing when setting a trap, and when he would 
go to smell at the bait after a trap had been 
set, I would speak to him in a firm voice and let 
him know that I did not approve of what he was 
doing. When making blind sets, I took the same 



THE DOG ON THE TRAP LINE. 173 

pains to show and give him to understand what 
I was doing. I would sometimes, after giving 
him fair warning, let him put his foot into a 
trap. I would scold him in a moderate manner 
and release him. Then all the time I was re- 
setting the trap I would talk trap to him, and by 
action and word teach him the nature of the 
trap. Mr. Trapper, please do not persuade your- 
self to believe that the intelligent dog cannot 
understand if you go about it right. 

In two weeks Pont had advanced so far in 
his training that I no longer had to pay any at- 
tention to him on account of the traps. The 
third day Pont was with me he found a 'coon 
that had escaped with a trap nearly two weeks 
before. My route called me up a little draw 
from the main stream. I had not gone far up 
this when Pont took the trail of some animal 
and began working it up the side of the hill. I 
stood and watched him until the trail took him 
to an old log, when Pont began to sniff at a hole 
in the log. He soon raised his head and gave 
a long howl, as much as to say he is here and 
I want help. After running a stick in the hole 
I soon discovered that the log was hollow. I 
took my belt axe and pounded along on the log 
until I thought I was at the right point and then 
chopped a hole in the log, and as good luck would 
have it, I made the opening right on to the 'coon, 



174 HUNTING DOGS. 

and almost the first thing I saw on looking into 
the log was the trap. Pont soon had the 'coon 
out, and when I saw it was the 'coon that had 
escaped with our trap, I gave Pont praise for 
what he had done, petting him and telling him 
of his good deed, and he seemed to understand 
it all. 

Not long after this Am came into camp at 
night and reported that a fox had broken the 
chain on a certain trap and gone off with the 
trap, saying that he would take Pont in the 
morning and see if he could find the fox. In 
the morning when we were ready to go Am tried 
to have Pont follow him, but it was no go, Pont 
would not go with him. Then Am put a rope on 
to him and tried to lead him, but Pont would 
sulk and would not be led. Then Am lost his 
temper and wanted to break Pout's neck again. 
I said that I did not like to have Pont abused 
and that I would go along with him. When we 
came to the place where the fox had escaped 
with the trap Am at once began to slap his 
hands and hiss Pont on. Pont only crouched 
behind me for protection. I persuaded Am to 
go on down the run and look at the traps down 
that way while I and Pont would look after the 
escaped fox. 

As soon as Am was gone I began to look 
about where the fox had been caught and search 



THE DOG ON THE TRAP LINE. 175 

for his trail^ and soon Pont began to wag his 
tail. I merely worked Font's way and said, 
^'Has he gone that way?-' Pont gave me to un- 
derstand that the fox had gone that way and 
that he knew what was wanted. The trail soon 
left the main hollow and took up a little draft. 
A little way up this we found where the fox 
had been fast in some bushes but had freed him- 
self and left and gone up the hillside. Pont 
soon began to get uneasy, and when I said hunt 
him out Pont, away he went and in a few 
minutes I heard Pont give a long howl and I 
knew that he had holed his game. When I came 
up to Pont he was working in a hole in some 
shell rocks. I pulled away some loose rocks and 
could see the fox, and we soon had him out, and 
Pont seemed more pleased over the hunt than 
I was. There was scarcely a week that Pont did 
not help us out on the trap line. 

Not unfrequently did Pont show me a 'coon 
den. I had some difficulty in teaching Pont to 
let the porcupines alone, but after a time he 
learned that they were not the kind of game 
that he wanted, and he paid no more attention 
to them. 

I have had many different dogs on the trap 
line with me, and I can say to any one who can 
understand dog's language, has a liking for a 
dog and has- a reasonable ampunt of patience 



176 HUNTING DOGS. 

and is willing to use it, will find a well trained 
dog of much benefit on the trap line, and often 
a more genial companion than some partners 
one may fall in with. But if one is so con- 
stituted that he must give his dog a growl or 
a kick every time he comes in reach, and perhaps 
only give his dog half enough to eat and cannot 
treat a dog as a friend, then I say, leave the dog 
off the trap line. 



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12 



CHAPTER XIX. 

SLEDGE DOGS OF THE NORTH 

nOT a hunting dog in a strict sense of the 
AYord, yet most important in that con- 
nection, is the sledge dog, in transporta- 
tion of hunters and their outfits to and 
from the hunting and trapping scenes. 

Following is a first hand, specially written 
article by Colonel F. H. Buzzacott, the intrepid 
Arctic explorer. That he writes from experience 
is evident, which necessarily adds interest and 
value to his highly interesting contribution. 

What the Indian pony is to the plain 
Indian, the Pack Horse or Mule is to the White 
Settler, Hunter or Trapper, the Sledge Dog or 
Reindeer is to natives of the distant and Far 
North. An old saying among frontiersmen is 
that a white man will abandon a horse as broken 
down and utterly unable to go when a ^^lexican 
will take that same horse and make him go a 
hundred miles further, while an Indian after 
all of this will mount and ride him for a week 
still. 

With all Indians, natives of the north or 
Esquimaux, knives are luxuries, ponies and 

178 



SLEDGE DOGS OF THE NORTH. 179 

dogs, necessities. Yet, for all that, they are 
never stabled, curried, washed, blanketed, shod, 
seldom protected or even fed. When the icy 
cold wintry blasts sweep the drifting' snows over 
plain and valley and buries under his white 
mantle his food he either digs for it, finds and 
eats what he can, or starves. 

In my plains experience with the Indians 
or in the Polar Iiegions with the natives of the 
north or Esquimaux, I have observed that the 
love of an Indian for his ponies, an Esquimaux 
for his dogs or Laplander for his reindeer con- 
sists in seeing how much he really can get out 
of them Avith the least trouble or effort to him. 

I have seen the Indians or natives of the 
northwest and the Esquimaux of Hudson's and 
Baffin's Bay, Greenland, etc., drive luilf starved 
dogs to the sledge until they fell or froze, only to 
be eaten by their masters or mates, whom for a 
lifetime they had pulled with or served faitli- 
fully. Necessity recognizes no law — man is but 
an animal himself — and in the struggle for life 
or gain it is everywhere but the '^Survival of the 
Fittest" or strongest and passing of the Aveak, 
be it white man or Indian. 

The best of the ^Sledge Dogs of the North" 
are to be found in Greenland or Siberia, ^'Sam- 
oyed" dogs or its Esquimaux cousin, the "Immit 
Dog", used by explorers and Esquimaux gener- 



180 HUNTING DOGS. 

ally. Those Avitli short, thick hair, medium 
build, size aud full breed are considered the best 
for all around work. They will exist and work 
well on one pound of food per day, or a big 
feast once a week. Their food consists mostly 
of dried and fresh fish, carrion or fresh, or, if 
with explorers, dog biscuit added. 

They closely resemble a wolf and howl like 
one. Are of various colors and sizes, iron grey 
predominating. They average about two feet 
four inches in height by three feet six inches in 
length, of unusually light Aveight for their size, 
owing to the bristle out appearance of their hair 
which adds to their real size. As a rule females 
are killed at birth, except those few to suffice for 
breeding. Commence training at six months to 
a year old and when two or three years old and 
seasoned to work are considered prime and pref- 
erable for long heavy distant sledging and hunt- 
ing. 

The best trained of the team (eight, twelve 
or more in number) is selected as a leader. They 
are guided by voice and whip, a loud ''Brr-Brr" 
taking the place of our ^^Gee" in starting and the 
word "Sass-Sass" used as ''Whoa." ''Hi" and 
"He" for right and left, "Ho" to correct, or 
speed, as they are trained, of course. A good 
leader possesses the quality of rarely failing to 
lead one safely over any route once traveled by 



SLEDGE DOGS OF THE NORTH. 181 

them, bringing you safely to the place even if 
buried under the snow. 

They eat eacli other's flesh wolf-like with 
gusto and will tear their fellows to pieces in 
fight or injury, unless beaten, torn apart or sepa- 
rated by a man of whom they are afraid. They 
hate water in winter as much as tliey love It in 
summer when they frequent the salmon streams 
and support themselves by fishing, pounce upon 
nearing fish of any size that approach them, 
much as does the bear, two of them even tackling 
an immensely big fish and fighting to secure and 
bring it to shore. As bear, muskox, or reindeer, 
dogs, a pack of them will invariably round up, 
hold or drive anytliing sighted within reason- 
able distance so long as the hunters will follow 
on, needing but little urging, as they realize the 
prospect of a ^'good big feast," hence get busy 
to the end ; younger dogs often paying the pen- 
alty with their lives but seldom older ones. 

As a rule, rawhide or seal harness is used 
in the far north, Alaska and Greenland .and by 
the Esquimaux but with tlie explorers these con- 
sist mostly of canvas collar like attachments 
made of fourfold strips, two of which pass or 
slip over the critter's back, the other two be- 
tween the forelegs, the whole united to a trace 
and this in turn fastened by a toggle, hook or 
ring to the sledge or drag rope. The dogs are 



182 HUNTING D0G9. 

hitched to this, either side of the drag, or alter- 
nately single or double, distant a few feet from 
each other. The guiding dog or leader is ahead 
leading while the others follow. Where canvas 
harness or steel wire rope is used on the drag 
by "Expeditions" it is because it lessens the 
chances of the harness being stolen, chewed or 
eaten, when rations become scarce. 

In heavy traveling they are used and hitched 
double for fast travel, alternate and single as 
exigencies require and will travel from 10 to 50 
miles a day according to conditions of road, load, 
snow, ice, etc. When hitched or prior to it, they 
are usually lightly fed so as to bring them to 
reach their destination and "Tether," loafers 
soon learn that they must earn their food. At 
times when worked hard, they get off feed, so 
to speak, sulk and refuse to come up to a drag. 
In which case the remaining dogs must do the 
work and rarely do they fail to whine, show their 
contempt for such action and j)unisli "His Nibs" 
at the first chance later on, even pining to get 
at him, sled and all, as they observe him follow- 
ing behind alone. 

On hard pulls, or uneven drags, they play 
out easily, act mulish, refusing to budge until 
the sled is started or at variance with each other. 
Otherwise, the start is a steady pull until well 
under way. A good team double will pull easily 



SLEDGE DOGS OF THE NORTH. 183 

a load of 1,000 pounds or morp- single about one- 
half, depending largely on condition of them- 
selves and the road they travel. The Esqui- 
maux seldom spares them or the whip, "Brring" 
them on and ^'Hi-ying-' if needs be. 

About eight hours' work constitutes a day's 
travel or they go until played out, the latter 
case most likely. When traveling they are fairly 
obedient and preserve a steady equal pulling 
that occasionally is relieved by a jerky, gallop- 
like pace. Well trained dogs preserve their pace 
and tug on the harness for hours at a time. Usu- 
ally they stop every hour or so for breathing 
spells as the atmosphere in those regions winds 
them e,asily. If traveling fast on ice and one 
falls or slips, he is dragged along, half strangled, 
until he regains his feet, place and jiosition in 
line again, or, becoming tangled he is loosened 
U13. By this time he has been snapped a few 
times by the dogs about him as if to punish him 
for his carelessness. 

Ordinarih', tlie leader responds promptly 
to the driver's voice, guiding, turning, halting 
or increasing speed at the given command. 
When, however, they scent game, they become 
difficult to manage, requiring utmost application 
of the whip to keep the trail or direction and this 
invariably ends in confusion, hopeless tangle 
and upset sledge. 



184 



HUNTING DOG^. 



Handling, feeding, training calls for more 
judgment and patience than skill, driving especi- 
ally. They refuse to cross apparently weak yet 
tested ice, pressure ridges, ice or snow cracks 
and mulelike, will make a plunging jump over a 
depression (when in trace) which ordinarily 




Sledge Dog. — Photo From Life. 



would not call for a leap at all. They require 
watchfulness on the part of the driver over cross 
country or when not following the trail, lest 
they sheer off from a given direction or straight 
line. 

When following the trail much confidence is 
vested in the leader and should perchance it 
strike a blind or cross trail, it will howl to at- 



SLEDGE DOGS OF THE NORTH. 185 

tract the attention of the driver and by these 
means verify directions, as if to ask if it is lead- 
ing right. In case it loses the track it will slow 
up, whine, run up or ''criss-cross its tracks, 
sniffing and smelling in an anxious, expectant 
way, until it finds or is led correct, when it 
howls with delight and pulls off ''like blazes" 
again. 

They have strange likes and dislikes. As en- 
tire pack will punish one who incurs the dis- 
pleasure at times to an extent of crippling or kill- 
ing each other. If a strange dog comes amongst 
them he is pretty sure to get "mauled" or his 
scraping abilities put to test, which usually ends 
in a free-for-all fight, catch as catch can rules 
predominating. 

When in harness training a young dog gets 
punished frequently by its mates for any awk- 
wardness it sliows. Old dogs especially show 
contempt for a new or strange dog wiiich takes 
its mate's place, be it pup or otherwise, and will 
often sulk if their place is changed. Each seems 
to think his place is best, the leader especially 
being particularly i)roud of his honored position 
in "Dogdom." As a rule, existing difficulties 
or arguments in harness are stored up until that 
day's march is over, because of fear of punish- 
ment from the driver, but as soon as turned 
loose, they settle the difficulty of the day by an- 



186 HUNTING DOGS. 

other scrap, in which often one bunch will par- 
ticipate in, ^take sides," and chew up each other, 
until all pitch in, aiming to settle things some- 
how. If too tired, they await the morrow. As 
a rule, the best sledge dogs are the poorest scrap- 
pers (so we have to be partial at times) especi- 
ally to the leader who is usually the most intelli- 
gent ; hence favored. 

In a pinch, when game and rations are 
scarce, they make good eating, of course, being 
sacrificed. At these times, their peculiar savage 
nature asserts itself, when you kill one for food, 
by signs of joy, rather than fear for they seem 
to be devoid of sympathy or unaffected by the 
scene. Their flesh is pale, tender and tasteless 
much like rabbit, bloodless and poor, and they 
will eat anything from a tin can label to Kip- 
ling's ^'Eag, Bone or Hank of Hair." When 
meat is plenty, they take on flesh and fatten 
quickly but seldom does this happen as the Es- 
quimaux says, ^'Him no good, lazy, much fat." 

Wolf-like, stolen food tastes better and one 
will leave his own ration to steal a fellow's equal 
share and risking by his greediness both, as it is 
stolen in turn by another. Their thieving pro- 
pensities are great, a tin can of meat, skin boots, 
oil lamp, old soup kettle, or their own harness if 
sealskin or rawhide. 

Tied, penned up or left harnessed any 



SLEDGE DOGS OF THE NORTH. 



187 



length of time, they assert their belief in "Lib- 
erty and Equality" by chewing- their way to free- 
dom if it takes a week to do it. As a rule, the 




Rough and Ready Sledge Dog, 



dogs respect a female and will seldom molest 
her. These give birth to a litter of from 4 to 8 
pups which are generally killed at birth, unless 



188 HUNTING DOG^. 

a scarcity of tliem, fat '^puppy dog'' being with 
the paunch of the reindeer considered a regular 
''Delmonico" dish. The average usefulness of 
their existence is about 6 to 8 j^ears, the old dogs 
following the same road as fat puppies, after 
their usefulness has seen the limit. Fall bred 
dogs are best. Alaskan dogs are larger and 
heavier and the same rule applies to Labrador 
species, but as they are of mixed breed, lazier 
and require more food thej are only used to ad- 
vantage where they belong — at home. 

As a rule, they exist, breed and sleep in the 
open, tlie soft side of a drifting snow bank being 
a luxury, especially if it drifts about them up to 
the muzzle, and it is onh^ vacated when danger- 
ous. They seek the warmest spots they can find, 
a roi)e coil, rag or paper, or even a tin can to 
lie on, in preference to ice or hard snow. Fail- 
ing in this, tliey will dig a hole in the soft snow 
and bury themselves in this, lying one on top 
of the other in bitter weather. The best of 
Arctic or Polar dogs, while they withstand cold 
to surprising degree, nevertheless, suffer with 
the cold and danger of freezing, especially in 
winter time when food is scarce or frozen and 
snow serves to quench thirst, a wet foot or crip- 
pled limb being the first to suffer. In bitter 
weather I have seen them roll and run to main- 
tain circulation. They huddle together, shiver- 



SLEDGE DOGS OF THE NORTH. 189 

ing, hold up their paws and whine pitifully and 
appealingly. 

They receive a kind word by a show of teeth 
instead of a wag — indeed, are anything but 
friendly, except at "chuck'' time and then limit 
it to the grub with a few exceptions, of course. 
Most of them, however, Indian-like, believe in 
the old maxim "Familiarity breeds contempt" 
and thus they treat kindness with suspicion and 
turn tail as if it preceded work or a licking and 
perhaps both. 

If left alone any length of time, one will 
start up a coyote-like howl and all join in one 
after the other in the chorus that takes the ap- 
pearance of a man with a "big stick" to quell. 
If left alone they will keep it up for hours, stop- 
ping as it commenced by degrees, apparently 
without reason. They are fed when circum- 
stances permit and if permitted, will gorge 
themselves to the point of bursting, eating 
enough to last a week and camping alongside of 
it until even the bones are cleaned up and not 
enougli left to feed a fly. Indian-like, however, 
they are always on hand for the next meal, hun- 
gry again. When traveling, they are fed a little 
daily, but when not, exist on wind, bones and 
kicks, fish offal and refuse thrown out, or hunt 
for themselves like wolves, after Arctic hares, 
lemmings or anything they can find. 



190 HUNTING DOGS. 

In winter time, dogs are often the main food 
of the Esquimaux and as fat or oil is generally 
scarce, are eaten raw instead of cooked, oil be- 
ing too valuable at this time to be wasted on 
dog. Its taste to the white man largely depends 
on one's hunger or digestive cravings. If half- 
starved, it is voted ^'just excellent." If not, it is 
^'just dog,'' that's all. Yet, if the pangs of hun- 
ger gnaw one's vitals, repugnance, position in 
life, creed, superstition, opinions, likes and dis- 
likes, self-respect, all give way to the cravings 
of an empty stomach; especially in that track- 
less great white desert called the "Distant Polar 
Eegions.'' 

Such is the life and existence of these, the 
sledge dogs of the north. 



PART IV. 



THE. HUNTING DOG FAMILY. 

191 



CHAPTER XIX. 

AMERICAN FOX HOUNDS 

CHOSE who make a science of breeding 
and training fox hounds, and indulge in 
the chase for sport only, have a nearly 
identical standard of the ideal the coun- 
try over. Even he who chases the fox for profit 
»may find valuable information and interest in 
such a standard, even though they may be con- 
vinced that their hounds, though without pedi- 
gree, are capable dogs. 

At a gathering of the foremost sportsmen 
of this country, in 1905, the following standard 
was fixed as ideal : 

The American foxhound should be smaller 
and lighter in muscle and bone, than the English 
foxhound. Dogs should not be under 21 nor 
over 23^ in., nor weigh more than 57 pounds. 
Bitches should not be under 20 noi* over 22 J 
inches nor weigh more than 50 pounds. 

The head (value 15) should be of medium 
size with n^uzzle in harmonious proportions. 

The skull should be rounded cross-wise with 
a slight peak, line of profile nearly straight, with 
sufiicient stop to give symmetry to the head. 
13 193 



194 HUNTING DOG^. 

Ears should meet to within one inch of end 
of muzzle, should be thin, soft in coat, low set 
and closely pendant. 

Eyes soft, medium size, and varying shades 
of brown. Nostrils slightly expanded. The 
head as a whole should denote hound character. 

The neck (value 5) must be clean and of 
good length, slightly arched, strong where it 
springs from the shoulders and gradually taper- 
ing to the head, without trace of throatiness. 

The shoulders (value 10) must be of suf- 
ficient length to give leverage and power, well 
sloped, muscular, but with clean run and not 
too broad. 

Chest and back ribs (value 10). The chest 
should be deep for lung space, narrower in pro- 
portion to depth than the English hound, 28 
inches in a 23J-inch hound being good. Well 
sprung ribs, back ribs should extend well bfck, 
a three-inch flank allowing springiness. 

Back and loin (value 10) should be broad, 
short and strong, slightly arched. 

The hindquarters and lower thighs (value 
10) must be Avell muscled and very strong. The 
stifle should be low set, not too much bent, nor 
yet too straight, a happy miedium. . 

The elbows (value 5) should set straight, 
neither in nor out. 

Legs and feet (value 20) are of great im- 



AMERICAN FOX HOUNDS. 195 

portance. Legs should be straight and placed 
squarely under shoulder, having plenty of bone 
without clumsiness, strong pasterns well stood 
upon. Feet round, cat like, not too large, toes 
well knuckled, close and compact, strong nails, 
pad thick, tough and indurated by use. 

Color and coat (value 5. Black, white and 
tan are preferable, though the solids and various 
pies are permissible. Coat should be rough and 
course without being wiry or shaggy. 

Symmetry (value 5). The form of the 
hound should be harmonious thruout. He should 
show his blood quality and hound character in 
every aspect and movement. If he scores high 
in other properties, symmetry is bound to follow. 

The stern (value 5) must be strong in bone 
at the root, of a medium length, carried like a 
sabre on line with the spine and must have a 
good brush. A docked stern shall not disqualify, 
but sim^ply handicap according to extent of 
docking. 

SUMMARY. 

Head 15, neck 5, shoulders 10, chest and 
back ribs 10, hindquarters and lower thighs 10, 
back and loin 10, elbows 5, legs and feet 20, 
color and coat 5, stern 5, symmetry 5. Total 100. 



196 



HUNTING DOGS. 



THE GREY HOUND. 



Without doubt, the grey hound, bred almost 
solely for speed, is the fleetest runner on earth. 

In a general wa^^ it may be said that the 
grey hound pursues by sight only, yet some ex- 




Good Specimens. 

perienced hunters will contend that they can 
follow a fairly warm trail successfully, if trained 
to it. It is not natural for them, however, 
to take and follow an old track until the game 
is started, but what they lack in that way is 
made up in speed. 

It has been a favorite practice for decades 



AMERICAN FOX HOUNDS. 197 

to take advantage of his speed, by crossing with 
other strains, resulting in courage, tenacity and 
trailing powers, very useful in several kinds 
of hunting. 

This type of dog, either pure bred or crossed 
lends himself readily to deer, wolf, fox or rabbit 
chasing, and is especially successful if hunted 
in company with good trailers. The latter start 
the game when the grey hound goes forward and 
effects a capture, or so interferes with progress, 
that the other dogs come up and finish the work. 

A bit of practical talk on the subject from 
the pen of a grey hound enthusiast is appended : 

I have always had grey hounds. If they are 
let run with the track hounds when they are 
young they soon learn to take a. track, run 
away from tlie pack and catch the game. I have 
some one-half grey hound and one-half blood- 
hound or fox hound. No better dogs living. 
Great fighters, stay as long as the game runs. 
This kind are good bear dogs. I keep live 'coon 
to train pups on and commence to train them at 
4 or 5 months old. The older they get the longer 
races I give them. 

SCOTCH DEER HOUND. 

An excellent deer hound is half scotch deer 
hound and one-half grey hound, and I will say 
there is no Jbreed called stag hound, writes a 



198 HUNTING DOGS. 

well informed Canadian deer hunter. All that 
claim that name are overgrown fox hounds used 
in England for that purpose. Thompson Gray 
in ''Dogs of Scotland/" written in 1890, says that 
the first mention of the Scotch deer hound was 
in "Pitcotts History of Scotland." It is of the 
same family as the grey hound and has been 
spoken of by early writers as the Rough Scotch 
Grey Hound. 

He is more massive, is about three inches 
taller than the grey hound and has a rough coat. 
His vocation is to course the stag and the deer. 
He, like the grey hound must not use his nose 
when hunting his quarry and for this reason 
great speed is absolutely necessary. His head 
is somiPAvhat longer and wider across the skull 
than that of the grey hound and the hair on the 
sides of the lip form a mustache. Small ears 
are a sign of good breeding. They should be 
set on high and at the back of the skull and be 
semi-erect when at attention. 

The coat is hard in texture, without any 
silkiness. The color most admired is blue 
grizzle with its various shades but brindle and 
fawn, either light or dark are admirable. There 
should be no white on any part of the body. As 
to formation, he should be made on the same 
lines as the grey hound. 



AMERICAN FOX HOUNDS. 



199 



THE BLOOD HOUND. 

The original and oldest of the hound family 
is the blood hound. He takes his name from 




Blood Hound. 



having originally been used to track wounded 
animals to their lairs. Their fame to the public 



200 HUNTING DOGS. 

is based on their use as man trailers, which 
gained more notice at about the time of the 
Civil War than before or since. There is con- 
siderable question as to their infallibility and 
powers in this direction. While nearly any dog 
can, if he wishes, trail a human being, and while 
the blood hound is the best scented of the dog 
family, it is rather doubtful if all the things that 
have been written about the blood hounds and 
slave fugitives are true. 

Bloodhounds are known under several 
names, such as, Cuban, Siberian, St. Hubert 
blood hounds, etc. 

Civil authorities and detectives, the country 
over, employ the blood liounds to trail criminals, 
or rather ostensibly to bring them to justice. 
Rarely do they succeed in actually capturing a 
fleeing culprit, however, if he has passed over 
sections trampled over by many other people. 

The blood hound, as has been mentioned 
before, is quite useful in breeding hunting dogs 
for specific purposes. 

Some light of experience is furnished us by 
a Pennsylvania breeder, as follows: 

In regard to blood hounds or a cross "be- 
tween the blood hound and fox hound, they are 
good hunters on wolf, fox, 'coon and bear. In 
fact, they are all around good dogs, great 
fighters on game. They are tough, active, will 



AMERICAN FOX HOUNDS. 201 

stand a long run and come home and not seem 
to be tired. 

The blood hound is a good man as well as 
an animal hunter. They will stand the longest 
races and not tire. In fifty years breeding from 
the best, these dogs are all that are needed in 
a hound dog. 

On the same subject a Western brother says ; 

I have bred dogs for 55 years from most of 
the kennels in this country, England and other 
countries. I like English blood hound or one- 
half hound and one-half fox hound. They are 
sharp scented, fast runners, good stayers, good 
fighters and game for fox and wolf hunting. 



%^ 




CHAPTER XXI. 

THE BEAGLE DACHSHUND AND BASSET HOUNDS. 

"A few years ago I gave up the large hound 
for the beagle hound, as I hunt rabbit a good 
deal now and I find it good sport with the right 
kind of beagles/' writes a beagle enthusiast of 
the middle west, ^'but, of course, they are just 
like fox hounds or any other breed of dogs, many 
of them would be better training themselves in 
tlie happy hunting grounds. The main thing is 
to get the right strain of beagles, of which there 
are several. Champion Bannerman, imported 
by J. Crane, Esq., about 1884, has had a great 
influence towards producing the smaller size. 
Of course every man to his opinion as to size. 
Some prefer the small, while others the larger 
size. The importation b}^ General Rowett, of 
Carlinsville, 111., which has been known since 
as the Rowett strain, when it comes to beauty 
and hunting qualities combined, are very good, 
in fact, are among the best. The blue cap strain 
im^ported into the country by Captain William 
Ausheton from the kennels of Sir Arthur Ash- 
burnham along in the seventies. This strain 
seems to have a stronger love for the scent of 
the rabbit than anything else. 



204 HUNTING D0G9. 

By crossing strains it is possible to get 
beagles with a fierce hunting disposition, that 
will hnnt and fight anything that wears fur, 
keen scent (remember the beagle is strong in 
the blood hound blood) wide chest, heavy bone, 
round fat feet that can put up a hard day's work 
every day. 

THE DACHSHUND 

We are indebted to Mr. William Loeffler 
for the following comprehensive, entertaining 
special article on the little understood Dachs- 
hund: 

Of the many breeds of dogs in existence, 
none have gained more friends and won more 
hearts and a stronger hold in American home 
in a comparative short time than the Dachs- 
hund. 

Those who have not seen a single specimen 
and are entirely ignorant regarding his charac- 
teristics, know him by continued caricature. 

For centuries back he was the most favored 
pet of German aristocracy, carefully guarded 
and upheld in his purity, and it was only occa- 
sionally that an outsider received a specimen. 
A gift of a Dachshund was considered a token 
of high esteem. 

Though lie lias not lost a particle of his 
prestige in this respect, and has strong admirers 




in 







iilii-ilt[iiiiirf"irmi'ii«ii 




206 HUNTING DOGS. 

in the royal families of Europe, he is rapidly 
becoming a cosmopolitan ; with his little crooked 
legs he now travels over many lands, making 
friends wherever he lands. 

At all times Dachshunde were in charge of 
professional hunters, who developed their in- 
stinct for hunting wonderfully, and the courage, 
endurance and strength exhibited in pursuing 
their game is astonishing and marvelous. 

The long body, short and muscular legs, the 
entire strength being centered in his deep chest, 
indicate that he is intended for work under 
ground. 

To attack a badger or a fox in his own bur- 
row requires bravery of a high degree, especially 
as tlie dog is in most cases much smaller than 
his game. He relies upon the strength of his 
jaws and his wonderfully developed set of teeth 
for his work and does not snap or bite at ran- 
dom, but his attack is usually well aimed and 
effective. 

The game-keeper's duty is to destroy all ene- 
mies of the game intrusted to his care, conse- 
quently foxes, badgers, minks and other vermin 
are at all times subject to extermination, and 
the Dachshund is his untiring and able assistant 
in this work. 

His scenting power is of the keenest and he 
will locate his prey very quickly w^hen he strikes 



THE BEAGLE^ DACHSHUND, ETC. 207 

a trail. A fox generally leaves his burrow wlien 
the dog enters his domain and falls a victim to 
the gunner's aim; not so Avith the badger, who 
crawl into a corner of his burrow, and two dogs 
in most cases attack him from different entries, 
and finally crowd him so that he will stay at 
bay. The location of the badger can easily be 
given by the barking of the dogs, and the hunter 
digs down with pick and spade, when the ground 
permits such work, until the badger can be seen. 
By means of a fork pushed over his neck the 
badger is held and captured. 

The Dachshund is also invaluable for find- 
ing wounded deer; for which purpose the hunter 
usually chains the dog, who then leads his mas- 
ter over the trail to locate the game. 

At home the Dachshund's disposition 
changes entirely; he is now a most affectionate 
and docile animal, and shows by his every ex- 
pression his attachment for his master and his 
family. His intelligence is surprising; as a 
watch or house dog he has few equals, the slight- 
est disturbance will not escape his keen senses 
and the alarm is given. Most always one mem- 
ber of the family he selects as his special idol, 
in many cases a child, and it is amusing to watch 
him, how he does everything in his power to show 
his affection, following every step taken by his 
beloved friend. He will frolic for hours and never 



208 HUNTING DOGS. 

seem to tire or lose his good temper, and lie is 
always on hand when wanted. He knows the 
friends of the family and never molests them, 
but he will not tolerate tramps. 

The color of the Dachshund is of great va- 
riety, the original stock being black and tan, 
from which, later developed chocolate and tan, 
gray and tan and single color red, ranging from 
fawn to dark mahogany red. The spotted Dachs- 
hund, such as black and tan as a ground color 
showing silver gray patches of irregular sizes 
throughout the black field is of comparatively re- 
cent development. Most all have short and 
glossy coats. 

The unusual shape of this dog, combined 
with a beautiful color, the graceful and digni- 
field walk, the aristocratic bearing, will draw the 
attention and admiration of every one who sees 
him. 

THE BASSET HOUND. 

The American beagle has a brother in 
France, called the Basset. He is slow, acute 
scenter and in general has characteristics in 
common with the beagle. 

Those few dogs in this country erroneously 
called Basset hounds, ( aside from a very few im- 
ported for bench show purposes) are doubtless 
resulted from beagle and mongrel crossed. 




A Pure Pointer. 



14 



CHAPTER XXII. 

POINTERS AND SETTERS. SPANIELS. 

ris not within our province to dwell at 
length upon the subject of ^'bird'' dogs. 
We will content ourselves with briefly 
pointing out some more salient points of 
appearance and character. Those who wish to 
make a study and follow extensively wing shoot- 
ing, and raise and train suitable dogs for the 
purpose, may obtain books relating exclusively 
to that subject. 

While adapted to the same purposes in the 
field, there are differences in the appearance and 
methods of pointers and setters that give rise to 
two distinct classes. 

In the field, if we may take for granted the 
claims of men long schooled in Aving shooting, 
we may say in a general Avay, that the pointer 
excels in woods — heavy cover, and brushy sec- 
tions. In such places a slower dog is required 
as well as one that willingly hunts close to the 
shooter. 

For work in open fields or over prairie land, 
the setter is i)erhaps better suited, because he, 
as a rule, "has greater speed, wider range, 

210 



POINTERS AND SETTERS — SPANIELS. 211 

greater endurance and stay i no- qualities. If re- 
trieving from water came into play, the setter 
also would have the preference. As to which of 
the two breeds has the best nose, and which is 
the better bird finder, nothing can be said with 
a degree of certainty — they are eqiinl, but there 




Royal Sports. — Pointers in Action. 

is a vast difference in individuals. The same is 
true as to retaining inculcated training.'' 

The pointer is the older breed, being a prod- 
uct of the middle ages. He bobs up, ever and 
anon, in the history of hunting down to the 
present. There has been now and again some 
inclination to cross the pointer and fox hounds, 



212 HUNTING DOGS. 

among huntsmen, some claiming even in this 
day that it improves either type of dog for his 
given duties. Purists, however, insist on keep- 
ing them pure and undefiled. 

In appearance the pointer is larger than the 
setter, and gives one an impression of solidity 
and strength ; his coat should be soft and mel- 
low, but not absolutely silky. The hair is short 
and straight. 

The setter's coat should be long, straight and 
silky (a slight wave is admissible) which should 
be the case with the breeches and fore legs^ 
which, nearly down to the feet, should be well 
feathered. The color may be either white and 
black, white and orange, white and lemon, white 
and liver, or black, white and tan ; those without 
heavy patches on the body, but flecked all over, 
called Belton, preferred." 

There is, as in most other questions of hunt- 
ing and shooting experiences, wide difference of 
opinion as to the relative values of the two breeds 
for practical field work and bench purposes. 

The casual field shooter will not go wrong 
in selecting either kind, so long as he secures a 
creditable and really representative individual. 

A distinct setter strain is the black and tan 
Gordon. Writes an authority : ^'The Gordon is 
a much heavier dog in all his parts than the 
English setter; coarser in skull, thicker in 



POINTERS AND SETTERS — SPANIELS. 213 




214 HUNTING DOGS. 

shoulders and usually carrying lots oi useless 
lumber. As a consequence he lacks the speed of . 
his English brethren, and for this reason he is 
not a desirable field trial candidate, but as a 
steady, reliable dog, with more than average bird 
finding ability, he Avill always have a number of 
admirers/' 

The Irish setter is another interesting one 
of the setter family. He is not as popular in 
America as the others, though a handsome and 
capable performer. His color is red, with white 
on chest, throat or toes, or a small star on the 
forehead. 

The manner of judging pedigreed field dogs 
1ms been reduced to an almost exact science. 
After all, however, all this is not for the casual 
liunter and many an embryo sportsman tramps 
the fields after capable, though not so high-toned 
dogs, and enjoys it all more than the nervous 
owner watching his dog in the field trial. 

SPANIELS. 

Spaniels are not utilized to any extent as 
hunting dogs in this country, although they are 
sometimes crossed to good avantage with other 
hunting dogs. About the water, the water span- 
iel is well adapted. For instance some spaniel 
blood in a mink dog is well worth considering. 



POINTERS AND SETTERS — SPANIELS. 215 

All of the spaniels, readily develop into retriev- 
ers, and this is their principal use at present, 
although they can be taught to hunt with con- 
siderable effect and judgment, where too much is 
not expected of them. They are lively, happy 
little workers, and on grouse in dense coverts, 
no dog possesses a better nose for the purpose. 
Their size, too, is against them for most prac- 
tical purposes. 



CHAPTEK XXIII. 

TERRIERS AIREDALES. 

PEACTICAL hunters have no interest in 
the numerous Terrier family, save per- 
haps two types. 
We find those who urge the use of the 
terrier for some purposes. For instance, a Ca- 
nadian brother has the following to say as to 
the Fox Terrier: 

I like the hound, but give me a well trained 
fox terrier as his companion, and I will get most 
every fox. Tliey have no trouble to hole in 
less than six hours, there is where the terrier 
shines and puts in his work. He will enter the 
hole and tlmt is the end of ]Mr. Fox. Sometimes 
he will bring him out of the hole to kill him, but 
more often he will kill him, then bring him out. 
There are times when he kills one that he cannot 
get out, owing to a short bend or other obstruc- 
tion in the hole. No doubt there will be many of 
the readers think this is a far-fetched claim, nev- 
ertheless it is true and many in this section can 
vouch for this statement. 

The dozens of types of this interesting, 
though generally impracticable terrier family we 

1216 



TERRIERS — AIREDALES. 



217 



pass over, permitting us to give wider attention 
to the one or two t3q)es that liave earned recog- 
nition. The ugly, little Irish terrier is some- 
times used to good advantage for crossing, where 




The Fox Terrier— Useful in Many Ways. 

heedless, reckless pluck is sought. These dogs 
are very game, yet remarkably good tempered 
with man. But they dearly love a fight, and 
have earned their commonly used nick-name 
"Dare-devils." 



218 



HUNTING DOGS. 



Thus lightly skipping over the whole family 
we come to a type that has earned notice in the 
hunting world, and is rapidly growing in popu- 
lar favor. 

THE AIREDALE. 

First we cite a bit of practical testimony on 




Airedale. 



the matter, from a gentleman who knows where- 
of he speaks : 

I have found out that the pure Airedale 
terrier and the hound make the very best dogs 
for coon, lynx, mink, etc. Get a good Airedale 



TERRIERS — AIREDALES. 219 

and a good hound and you will have a pair of 
hounds hard to beat. The airedale are great 
water dogs and very hard workers and easily 
trained to hunt any kind of game. They are full 
of grit and they fear nothing and are always 
ready to obey your command. I have hunted 
with them and found this breed of dog away 
ahead of the water spaniel, collie, etc. Once you 
own one you will never be without it. 

"The x\iredales were first imported into this 
country in 1897 or 1898, from England, and as 
companion and guard dogs, as w^ell as hunters 
and retrievers have made wonderful strides, and 
are becoming more popular as they become bet- 
ter known. In disposition and intelligence they 
are unexcelled. They will guard their master's 
family night and day, but on the other hand are 
affectionate and kind to children. They are nat- 
ural hunters of both large and small game, in 
which they need but little training, and have 
been used and worked as hunters and retrievers 
with much success, as they are easily taught and 
very intelligent. In size, the standard calls for 
males 45 pounds, females a little less. Color, 
black and badger gray with tan extremities. 

We should name the Airedale as a promis- 
ing bear dog. His grit, courage, staying qual- 
ity and strength are all points of advantage in 



220 HUNTING D0G9. 

a dog that is expected to try conclusions with 
the hard-swatting bruin. 

Also we frequently hear of noteworthy suc- 
cess of the Airedale in hunting and dispatching 
coyotes, coons, badger and bay-lynx, any one of 
which is capable of putting up a good fight. Also 
he is a hunter, retriever, trailer of coon, 'possum, 
bear, wildcat, mink, coyote, deer, lynx, fox or 
small game. 

The tendency nowadays is to produce larger 
Airedales, wliich shall retain the terrier quali- 
ties. The practical callings upon the breed's use- 
fulness seems to justify that he be bred over 50 
pounds, rather than between 45 and 50 pounds, 
which has in the past been the aim. 

One writer says that it was in the valley of 
the Aire river tliat the Otter hound was crossed 
with the Bull Terrier, that product was the 
Scotch terrier, that with the Scotch collie, that 
with the Pointer, and that with the Setter dog 
and then the standard having been secured, the 
crossing was discontinued. In that dale of the 
Aire, then, was the great breed of dogs first ex- 
perimented upon, that made the Airedale. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

SCOTCH COLLIES. HOUSE AND WATCH DOGS. 

HE Scotch collie do2: \\i\\ make tlie best 



friend of all the dogs in the canine race, 



f 

^ writes a collie admirer. Of all useful 

^■^ animals God gave to nmn what can excel 
the dog, at least with the stockmen; in affection 
no other dog can compare with him, he is a dog 
that every farmer needs. He has almost human 
intelligence, a pure bred collie can §Jways be 
depended upon in sunshine or adverSty. He 
can do his Avork in a manner that should put the 
average boy to shame. The pure bred Scotch 
Collies are of a kind and affectionate disposition 
and they become strongly attached to their mas- 
ter. There can be no friend more honest and 
enduring than the noble, willing and obedient 
thoroughbred Scotch Collie. As a devoted 
friend and faithful companion he has no equal 
in the canine race, he will guard the household 
and property day and night. The Scotch Collies 
are very watchful and always on the alert, while 
their intelligence is really marvelous. 

At one year old they are able to perform full 
duty herding sheep, cattle and other stock, at- 

221 



222 



HUNTING DOGS. 



tending them all day when necessary, keeping 
them together and where they belong and driv- 
ing ofC all strange intruders. They learn to 




Collie. 

know their master's animals from others in a 
very short time, and a well-trained dog will 
gather them home and put each into its right 
stall. They have a dainty carriage and fine style, 
profuse silky hair of various colors. 



SCOTCH COLLIES ETC. 223 

Others incline to the conviction that practi- 
cal purposes have been lost sight of in breeding, 
and that appearances have been sought to such 
an extent that the present day pure bred collies 
lack some of the attributes of intelligence and 
hardihood that made the collie famous. In view 
of this fact it is quite likely that for general pur- 
poses and certainly for hunting purposes, a dash 
of alien blood is advantageous. 

The crossed collie, or the well-known shep- 
herd dog, so common to the farm, are very often 
used with success in all forms of night hunting. 
There are some who go so far as to maintain 
that the sheplierd or a cross of sliepherd and fox 
hound are ideal for coon, rabbit and squirrel 
hunting. 

The use of these dogs as sheep herders has 
deteriorated in this country, although they are 
still bred for practical purposes with marked 
success in parts of England. 

HOW TO TRAIN A COLLIE. 

The best Avay to make a start is to get a 
pure-bred puppy from a good Avorking strain. 
To gain the best results and secure the full worth 
of a Collie as a stock dog, I would say, take him 
as a little puppy. 

There are many reasons why we favor the 
little puppy to the dog nearly or quite grown. 
Most collies are sensitive and suspicious and of 



224 HUNTING DOGS. 

fine temperament and this characteristic often 
makes them appear rather more cowardly than 
brave. A Collie that has been properly cared 
for and considerably handled during his puppy- 
hood up to maturity should have plenty of cour- 
age. A puppy should never be permitted to have 
a place of refuge where he can run away and 
hide on hearing a slight noise or unusual dis- 
turbance of any kind, or at the sight of a 
stranger. 

If he is kept under conditions where he can 
see all that may be going on, and in that way be- 
come familiar with active life, learning that 
noises and strange persons do not harm him, he 
will develop plenty of courage, vrithout which 
there is but little hope of great usefulness. 

First, teach him his name, and to come when 
you call him. Teach him to mind but always by 
kind methods. Let him love and trust jow, gain- 
ing his affection by gentle treatment. He should 
be accustomed to the collar and chain when 
young, though it is much better to keep him in 
the yard than confined by a chain while he is 
growing. Teach him one thing at a time — to 
lie down and remain in that iDOsition until ex- 
cused; to follow at your will, and stop at the 
word, to come in at once at command, and to 
turn to the right or left. 

All these lessons can be easily managed by 



SCOTCH COLLIES ETC. 225 

use of a small cord and always using the appro- 
priate word with emphasis. He should always be 
made to keep at your heels when out for a walk 
with you. In tliat way, after telling him to go 
to heel wlienever lie tries to run away, he will 
understand the word better when he goes with 
you to drive the cattle for the first time. 

Let him keep back of the stock with you, 
while you drive the cattle to and from the field 
or pasture without undertaking to teach him, 
for as he learns by observation, he must have 
the example made plain. He will quickly show 
a desire to help and tlien 3^ou may take advant- 
age of this act, encouraging him to help you, 
and after he has been with you a time or two, 
be will soon become a driver at the heel. Give 
him plenty of practice, and Avhen he becomes 
a good driver at the heel, taking a positive 
interest in his work, he can then be easily 
taught to turn tlie cattle to the right or left, 
to head them off, stop them or go alone into 
the distant fields and bring the cattle to the 
stable. 

He should never be alloAved to drive the 
cattle fast for if once allowed to run them, he 
will become careless and develop a disposition 
to worry them. 

Do not weary him with over-commanding 
nor notice every little mistake which unnoticed 

15 



226 



ttUNTlNG DOGS. 




Xi 

a 
<u 

in 



SCOTCH COLLIES ETC. 227 

may not occur again. If you gain his affectior. 
and do not forget to tell him that he has been 
a good dog when he has done well for you, he 
will learn fast for he has a wonderful memory 
and never forgets the things he has learned to 
do. Thus we are amply repaid for the care and 
time used in making the lesson plain. 

I might say a few words about feeding the 
puppy, as he should have good food Avhen young. 
The first few months he should be fed on bread 
and milk, never giving him any meat at any 
time, and as he grows older, give him the bread 
dry and the milk as a drink. A comfortable 
sleeping place should also be given him. The 
best place is in the house or stable and he should 
be kept in at night at all times of the year. 

You will find that a well looked after Collie 
is a valuable and life-long friend and helper. 

HOUSE AND WATCH DOGS. 

The Great Dane, Mastiff, St. Bernard, New- 
foundland, Poodle, Dalmatian Chow-Chow, Eng- 
lish and French Bulldog have their places and 
purposes, but are entirely outside the province 
of hunting dogs. Most hunters admire these no- 
ble beasts, but inasmuch as they have no prac- 
tical importance or use to the hunter, detailed 
description is omitted. 



T 



CHAPTER XXV. 

A FARMER HUNTER — HIS VIEWS. 

am a farmer by trade and a raccoon hunter 
for sport, and nothing but a fox hound for 
me, and the better his breeding is the bet- 
ter I like it. I don't care how much noise 
he makes if he is fast. I like a good tonguer. 
I only have four hounds at this writing. I have 
caught 27 'coon and 10 opossum. On the night 
of November 9th, some friends of mine went out 
'coon hunting with me. They had three 'coon 
dogs and I had four, seven hounds in all. We 
went about two miles south of where I live to 
where we sometimes hunt the 'coon. The first 
thing when we got there the dogs struck a trail 
and treed on top of a hill with an old coal entry 
just below it. 

We got up to the tree all right and could 
hear one of the dogs barking ^'treed" about one- 
half mile south, so I left the boys to attend to 
that tree and I went to the lone hound. He was 
barking up a large black oak in the corn field. 
I soon spied an eye up the tree and shot him out 
and down came Mr. 'Coon. I looked up in the 
tree again and saw two eyes. The little 20-gauge 

228 



A FARMER HUNTER — HIS VIEWS. 229 

spoke again and down came 'coon No. 2. The 
other fellows did not have such good luck, as 
their coon got into the coal entry. 

We then started on and the dogs caught 
another trail and gave us some music for about 
twenty minutes. When they barked treed w^e 
went over to them and there were six of the dogs 
barking up a bushy oak and the lone dog was 
barking about eighty rods west of there. One of 
the boys started up the tree and got only part 
way up when out jumps Mr. 'Coon. The dogs all 
went for him and out' comes another 'coon and 
into the corn field he went just about at the top 
of his speed, and I guess he had no slow orders 
either by the way he was going the last time I 
saw him. We got a couple of the dogs after the 
runaway 'coon but he made a hole, so we then 
went to the lone dog and he had one up. We 
got that and started west. We had not gone far 
when the dogs struck another trail and they 
circled to the northwest of us, came around west 
and south and turned east. Just across the hol- 
low from us was a large tree that Mr. 'Coon 
was trying to make but he couldn't get speed 
enough to make it, so the dogs caught him as 
he got to the bottom of the tree. 

The lone dog was with them on that chase. 
We left our 'coon at a farmer's and started on. 
The dogs struck another trail and that 'coon got 



230 HUNTING DOGS. 

into a hole and he was safe, so we ate our lunch, 
rested a little while and started on west. The 
dogs hit another trail and went south about a 
mile and barked but not treed. We went to them 
and they had run this 'coon into a shallow hole 
in the corn field. We tried to get one of the dogs 
to pull him out but the 'coon got first hold every 
time, so we got a stick and dug in a little ways. 
We could then see Mr. 'Coon's eje^ down in the 
hole. We sent three dogs in after him but they 
came out without him. 

I had an old speckled hound we called 
Teddy. He went in and when he backed out he 
had company with him, and he seemed to think 
a great deal of his company, for he was hangini^ 
right on to him just as though he thought his 
company might leave him if he got a chance. 
Ted was doing all he could, but he got him up 
so the other dogs could see Mr. 'Coon's back and 
then he had plenty of help and the 'coon's 
troubles were soon over. 

We then started northwest. The dogs 
were working a trail and they were puzzled on 
it; did not seem able to get away. There were 
a black oak and hazel bush where we were then, 
so we sat down to let the dogs work it out if 
they could. We were sitting within 10 feet of 
an oak tree, the lone dog came up, circles the 
tree and barks up, then three of the other dogs 



A FARMER HUNTER HIS VIEWS. 231 

come up and start to bark. One of the boys says 
there might be a 'coon up that tree but I doubt 
it. Well, I said, when four good -coon dogs 
bark up a tree at the same time, there is liable 
to be something up there, so up went one of the 
boys and down came Mr. 'Coon. We got him 
and the dogs were not long in starting another 
trail. 

They started south but it was a cold one, 
but they struck right after Mr. 'Coon, and I 
guess they must have taken us a mile and a half 
on that trail to another patch of timber, and we 
were about a half a mile behind them when they 
barked treed. They had Mr. 'Coon up a tall 
red oak. We shot him out and soon had another 
trail going. They took this one south, and it 
was a warm one, right out into a corn field, and 
they caught him on the ground. We could hear 
the fracas and went to them as quick as pos- 
sible, but Ave were not quick enough for they had 
killed Mr. 'Coon and we met them coming back. 
We went to where w^e thought they were when 
they caught the 'coon but we did not find the 
right place for we did not find that coon. 

The dogs soon had another trail going and 
gave us some fine music for a little while and 
barked treed. We went to them and they had 
two 'coons up. We shot them out, and they soon 
had another one going south. It was getting 



232 HUNTING DOGS. 

pretty frosty about that time and they worked 
that trail about one hour south and west. We 
followed their music and they barked treed. We 
shot him out. That makes eleven 'coon and 
one killed in the field that we could not find. 
Now there may be some of the trappers that 
will think I have added a few 'coon to this hunt, 
but I have not. I have given you this 'coon hunt 
as near as it happened as I can remember, but 
we had seven as good 'coon dogs as you generally 
run across. I do not say seven of the best dogs 
ever went into the woods or the best in the 
United States, but they were 'coon dogs and 
fast ones. 

It seems that about every man that has a 
'coon dog or dogs and they tree a few 'coons, gets 
it into his head that nobody has a dog quite as 
good as his. I have one pair of hounds from a 
Williams bitch and a dog owned by Mr. Wil- 
liams — Hodo is his name — but he is a pure 
Trigg dog. His pedigree runs back over forty 
years. One of Haiden C. Trigg's dogs, Trigg, 
is the most successful hound breeder in the 
United States today. He started on the old 
original American fox hound, these long eared 
fellows with a deep mellow voice, called by some 
nigger chasers, as they used them in the south 
for that purpose, and some dealers are selling 
the old American Fox Hound today for Ameri- 



A FARMER HUNTER — HIS VIEWS. 233 

can Blood Hounds. Tlie only genuine blood 
hound we have is the English. See what the 
Trigg dog is today, short ears or much shorter 
than the dog Mr. Trigg started to improve on, 
with narrow muzzle, and stands up well w^ith 
good feet and built on speedy lines, a red fox dog, 
and when he started on there were few of them 
that could hole a red fox inside of eight hours, 
and the Trigg dog of today will hole a red fox in 
a comparatively short time. Of course the fox 
they are running and the kind of country they 
have to run in, have a great deal to do with it. I 
run fox myself sometimes, or my hounds do 
rather. 

Now I see some of the hunters like a still 
trailer, but I want to hear my dogs work and 
I want to know which way they are going, and 
when they begin to get away I can follow and 
keep in hearing of my dogs. I can tell by their 
baying just about what they are doing, if the 
trail is cold or warm, and can tell which way 
they are going. I wouldn't give a cent to hunt 
with dogs that couldn't make a little music when 
on the trail. 

I see some of the brothers think nothing but 
a still trailer catches his 'coon on the ground. 
If you have fast trailers they will catch 'coon on 
the ground if they tongue every other jump. My 
dogs are all good tonguers and I often have 



234 HUNTING DOGS. 

them catch 'coon on the ground and big 'coon, 
not little young 'coon any more than old ones. 
A young 'coon will take to a tree quicker than 
an old one. I have got to see mj first \\ ell bred 
'coon hound that will still trail. I have never 
seen him yet, that is, a fox hound. I have tried 
shepherd and hound cross, bull dog and hound 
cross, and beagle and fox hound cross, but give 
me the pure bred fox hound every time for a 
'coon dog, and I don't care how long his pedigree 
is either. Let me tell you, you cannot get a 
fox hound too fast for 'coon, the faster he is 
the better. 

I read where a brother made the statement 
that you wanted a slow hound for a 'coon dog. 
Well, he may want a slow one, yet I am sure I 
do not. He goes on to say that a fast dog will 
run over the trail if the 'coon makes a short or 
square turn, the fast hound will run by and 
lose too much time finding the trail again. Let 
me tell you right here, the fast hound can't help 
but run over, but he knows right where he lost 
that trail. If he happens to circle the right w^ay, 
he only has to make a half circle and he is off 
again. On the other hand, if he circles the other 
way he makes a full circle and hits the trail and 
is going just as fast as ever. If he has a good 
nose on him he has not lost four seconds. A 
fast hound will make that turn in a trail quicker 



A FARMER HUNTER — HIS VIEWS. 235 

every time than a slow one will. I have had both 
slow and fast and have hunted 'coons about 23 
years. Am now a man 38 years old, and if I 
don't know what a hound is I sure never will. 

I don't claim to know it all, for a man never 
gets too old to learn. He could learn something 
every day if he lived a thousand years, or for 
all time to come. There is no dog that will work 
a cold trail out like a good hound. He will work 
out a trail and tree a 'coon when a cur dog 
would pass right over the trail and pay no at- 
tention to it whatever. It must be the brothers 
that like the still trailers that never had a good 
'coon hound, for I have never seen good 'coon 
dogs but I have seen the best ones wrapped up 
in a fox hound hide. 

I have a black and tan hound that will fight 
for me at any time. I can't scuffle with any one 
outside of my own family for he will bite them 
just as quick as he can get close enough to them. 
I had to give him several hard whippings to 
make him quit rabbits. Now they don't bother 
him any when he is looking for 'coon with me 
at night. His father was the hardest dog to 
break off of rabbits that I ever broke, but when 
he was three years old he would not notice a rab- 
bit at night but would trail them in the day 
time. He turned out to be a very valuable hound. 
He would retrieve as good as a retriever on 



236 HUNTING DOGS. 

land or in water, would catch any hog that I 
told him to catch and hold it until I told him to 
let it go. I could point out any chicken I wanted 
him to catch and he would get it for me and 
would not hurt the chicken any. 

Some people think a hound don't know any- 
thing but trail, but a good hound is a very smart 
dog and a poor hound is about as worthless a 
dog as you can find. Take the hound as a breed 
and I must say they are a noble breed. The fox 
hound requires, I think, more exercise than any 
other breed of dogs. I have a 25 gallon caldron. 
I put most any kind of meat that I can get, 
beef, horse flesh, 'coon, when there is one that is 
pretty badly bruised up, pork or any kind of 
meat that is not decomposed, and put it into 
this caldron. Of course, I put water in first 
then put in my meat and boil until it will all 
stir off the bone. I then take all the bones out 
and stir in corn meal until I have enough so 
that when the meal is done it will be a very stiff 
mush. When it is done and cooled off you can 
take it out in chunks. Use no salt, if any, very 
little, as a very little salt will physic a dog. 

I sometimes bake corn bread for the dogs 
for a change, which makes a good food for them 
but not so strong a food as the other. I think a 
hound will do more running and keep in better 
order on that mush with meat than any food you 



A FARMER HUNTER — HIS VIEWS. 237 

can give them. Of course, if a person lias but 
one dog, lie can generally get enough from the 
house scraps from the table, but when you have 
a dozen or so you will have to get your dog food 
elsewhere. In warm weather this mush will 
sour in a few hours, but in cold weather it will 
keep SAveet. I feed my dogs once a day when 
they are idle, but when I am hunting them I feed 
them twice a day. Feed each dog by himself. 

Now as to their sleeping places, if you can 
let your dogs run loose, and they will find warm 
places to sleep, with plenty of bedding in the 
barn or other out buildings where the ventila- 
tion is good, but no drafts of air to blow on 
them, that is the best place for them. I keep 
part of my dogs tied up, as they would be off 
hunting if I let them run loose. For those I 
use on the chain I use a 20-foot chain. Build 
a good, warm dog house with a shingle roof, an 
individual house for one dog. Cut a hole that he 
can get thru easily and then tack some burlap 
just above the hole and let it hang down over 
the hole. When it is cold weather I leave it 
down, but when it is pleasant I fasten it up so 
that it leaves the hole open. The air can get 
thru the burlap but it breaks the wind off of 
the dog and keeps the -snow from blowing in on 
his nest, or rain if it is raining. He can go out 
and in when the burlap is down. 



238 HUNTING DOGS. 

Another easy way to make a good place for 
a dog is cut a hole in the side of a building that 
has a good roof, and put a box large enough so 
that it will give your dog plenty of room right 
tight up against the inside of the building where 
you cut the holes thru. Knock one side of your 
box out and put it to the hole on inside of build- 
ing. Put your burlap on the outside at the hole 
as before described, and you have a fine place 
for your dog. Make the hole just large enough 
so he can get thru it easily, and cut it high 
enough so that when he lays down in the box, 
the bottom of the hole will be above the dog. 
Give your dog good, clean bedding at least once 
a week. Twice a week is not too often. Use 
some disinfectant about two or three times a 
month inside of dog house. The best cure for 
mange that I have ever used, or for sores to 
heal them; is black gun powder, powdered sul- 
phur and lard, mixed and well rubbed in. It 
is a sure cure for mange. It will soon kill the 
germs, if properly applied. 

I notice where a brother, in telling how to 
break a young dog to tree 'coon said, to let the 
'coon chew the dog for a while, help the 'coon, 
let him eat the dog for about 20 minutes and 
the dog would go to hunting them to get revenge, 
or something to that effect. Now it is my 
opinion that the dog would not want any more 



A FARMER HUNTER — HIS VIEWS. 239 

revenge as he would get a plenty right there, 
and the chances are that he would ever after be 
afraid of a 'coon, if he were a pup and got that 
kind of treatment. Help your dog kill a 'coon 
wlienever you can, if you can do it without 
danger to the dog. I never let my dogs kill a 
'coon when it can be avoided. If I can find 
the 'coon with my light in the tree I shoot him 
out, and then sometimes he has plenty of fight 
in him when he comes down. Other times he is 
dead when he hits the ground. 

Any one of my dogs will kill a 'coon if 
necessary, but they don't get the chance very 
often. There has been a few times that I let 
them kill the 'coon, when I could have killed 
him myself, when there were some of the boys 
with me that wanted to see them kill the 'coon, 
but it is tiresome work on a dog to kill a 'coon, 
harder a great deal than treeing one. My dogs 
will not stay at a hole unless the 'coon is very 
close to the top of the ground, as where I hunt 
there are a great many old coal entries and it 
would be a nuisance to have them bark at such 
places as you could not get them out, so I never 
encourage them to stay at a hole when they run 
one in. 

I have seen some discussion about the size 
of 'coons. The largest 'coon I ever caught 
weighed 30 pounds. He measured from the tip 



240 HUNTING DOGS. 

of his tail to the end of his nose, 4 feet and 4 
inches. I caught another one last winter that 
weighed 25 pounds and measured four feet and 
2 inches from his nose to the end of his tail. 

I catch a good many that weigh over 20 
pounds. Another thing I want to tell you is 
this, in over 20 years of 'coon hunting I have 
never cut a tree down to get a 'coon. There is 
too much of that kind of work done. Where are 
all of the 'coons going to stay when you get all 
of the den trees cut down? I want to ask you 
where is the land owner that wants 'coon 
hunters- cutting his timber down? Think of cut- 
ting a fine, large tree down because it has a hole 
in it with a 'coon inside. If I get a 'coon in 
such a tree and can't climb it, I just call the 
dogs away from the tree and let him go until 
some other time. I make it my business to go 
that way again some night, and the chances are 
I get that same 'coon in such a tree and can't 
climb it, I just tree a head of Mr. 'Coon if 1 
can, and he goes up some tree that I can get 
him, out of when he sees he is cut off from his 
den tree, and the tree is left for the next 'coon 
that comes along. So, brothers, please cut the 
tree cutting out, as it is for your own good to 
let those kind of trees stand if you want to hunt 
'coon. When you go around thru the timber 
destroying it, some one is going to call a halt 



A FARMER HUNTER — HIS VIEWS. 241 

on you, and on the other hand it is not at all 
necessary to cut the timber to get the 'coon, and 
the tree is undoubtedly w orth more to the man 
that own the land than the 'coon is to you 

Of course, if the owner of the tree gives you 
permission to cut the tree, that clears you on 
that score, but after the tree is down, you will 
never find another 'coon in that tree. 



16* 



CHAPTER XXYI. 

Descriptive table of technical terms as 
applied to the dog. 

The following table of definitions are used 
descriptive of the parts of the dog's anatomy, 
and are used and understood generally by pro- 
fessionals : 




{The numhers refer to the picture.) 



Apple-headed. — Skull round instead of flat 
on top. 
1. Arm. 

Blaze. — A white mark up the face. 
Brush. — The tail of a Collie, or any bushy 
tail. 

242 



TABLE OF TECHNICAL TERMS^ ETC. 243 

2. Brisket. — The part of the body between 

the cliest and the neck. Front part of 
chest. 

ButterfJy-nose. — A spotted nose. 

Button-ear. — An ear which falls over in 
front, concealing the inside, as in Fox- 
Terriers. 

Broken-np Face. — Eefers more particu- 
larly to the face of the Bulldog or Toy 
Spaniel, and comprises the receding 
nose, or lay-back, deep stop, and 
wrinkle. 

Burr. — Tlie inside of the ears. 

Breeching. — The tan-colored hairs on the 
back of the thighs of a Black-and-tan 
Terrier. 

Beefy. — Big, beefy hind-quarters. 

Cat-foot. — A short, round foot, with the 
knuckles high and well developed; 
like a cat's, short, round and compact. 

3. Chest. — ^Tlie chest of a dog must not be 

confounded with the brisket; the breast 
or chest extends between the fore-legs 
from the brisket to the belly. 

Cheeky. — When the cheek bumps are 
strongly defined; thick in cheek. 

Chaps or Chops. — The pendulous lips of 
the Bull-dog; the foreface of a Bull- 
dog., 



244 HUNTING DOGS. 

Cohhy. — Well ribbed up; short and com- 
pact. 

Cloddy or Cohhy. — Thick-set, short-coup- 
led and low in stature. 

Couplings. — The length or space between 
the tops of the shoulder-blades and 
tops of the hip-joints, or buckle-bones. 
A dog is accordingly spoken of as long 
or short "in the couplings.'' 

Cow-hocked. — The hocks turning inward; 
hocks that turn in, like those of a cow. 

Cushion. — Fulness in the top lips. 

Crook-tail. — The crooked tail of a Bull- 
dog. 

Crank-tail. — Same as above. 

Culotte. — The feather on the thighs, as in 
the Schipperke and Pomeranian. 

Character. — The combination of points 
contributing to the whole make-up and 
giving to a dog that which is desired 
in his particular variety. 

Corky. — Compact and active looking ; 
springy and lively in action. 

Deiv-claivs. — The extra claws found occa- 
sionally on the legs of all breeds, but 
especially of the St. Bernard; the 
superfluous claws inside the hind-leg 
just above the foot. 



TABLE OP TECHNICAL TERMS, ETC. 245 

Dewlap. — Pendulous skin under the throat 
as in'case of Blood-bound. 

Dish-faced. — This term describes a dog 
whose nasal bone is higher at the nose 
than at the stop — a feature not in- 
frequently seen in pointers. 

Dudley-nose. — A flesh-colored nose. 

Domed Skull. — Eound skull. 

Deep in Brisket. — Deep in chest ; deep 
from withers to point where chest and 
brisket meet. 
4. Elbow. — The joint at the top of the fore- 
arm. 

Elhoius Out or ''Out at Elbows.'' — This 
term defines itself. Bulldogs and 
Dachshunde are desirable with elbows 
so shaped, but it may occur as a fault 
through weakness. 

Expression. — The expression of a dog is 
largely but not wholly determined by 
the size, angular position, and degree 
of prominence of the eye. For instance 
in a St. Bernard the eye is small, some- 
what sunken, showing a little haw. 
This gives a dignified and rather be- 
nevolent expression. '^Collie expres- 
sion" depends largely on the angle at 
which eyes are set to each other. 



246 HUNTING DOGS. 

Feather. — The fringe of hair on the back 
of legs of some breeds, notably Setters, 
Spaniels, and Sheep-dogs. The feath- 
ering on legs, as in the Setter and 
Spaniel. 

Flag. — The tail of a Setter. 

Flews. — The chops, or overhanging lips of 
the upper jaw. The term is chiefly ap- 
plied to hounds or other deep-mouthed 
dogs. The lips. 

5. Forearm. — This makes the principal length 

of the fore-leg and extends from elbow 
to pastern. 

Frill. — The long hair on the brisket of 
some dogs, and especially of the Collie. 
The profuse hair under the neck. 

Fro(j-face or Down-face. — Nose not reced- 
ing. 

Flat-sided. — Flat in ribs; opposite of well- 
ribbed up. 

Grizzle. — A bluish-gray color. 

Hare-foot. — Foot like that of a hare, long 
and narrow. 

Haw. — The red inside eyelid, usually hid- 
den, but yisible in Bloodhounds and St. 
Bernards ; the red membrane inside the 
lower eyelid. 

6. Hocks. — The lower joint of hind-leg. 
Height. — The height of a dog is measured 



TABLE OF TECHNICAL TERMS, ETC. 247 

at the shoulder, bending the head 
gently down. The proper method is to 
place the dog on level ground close 
by a Avail, and to lay a flat rule across 
his shoulders so as to touch the wall; 
then measure to the point touched by 
the rule. 

7. HuCKLE-BONES. — Tops of the hip-joints. 

The space between these and the tops 
of the shoulders is called the couplings. 
Harlequin. — Pied, mottled, or patchy in 
color. 

8. Knee. — The joint attaching the fore-pas- 

terns and the forearm. 
Kink-tail. — A tail with a single break or 

kink in it. 
Leather. — The ears i. e., the loose visible 

part of them. 
Layhach. — Receding nose. 
Loins. — Tliat part of the anatomy of the 

dog between the last rib and hind- 
quarters. 
Long in Flanlv. — Long in back and loins, 
Lumher. — Superfluous flesh. 
Mask. — The dark muzzle of a Mastiff or 

Pug. 
Mi^ne. — The profuse hair on top of neck. 
Merle. — A bluish-gray color splashed with 

Iblack. 



248 HUNTING DOGS. 

Monkey-faced. — ^ee Dish-faced. 
9. ^"^ASAL Bone. 

Occiput. — The prominent bone at the back 
or top of the skull; particularly prom- 
inent in Bloodhounds; the bony bump 
on the top of the head. 

OversJiot. — The upper teeth projecting 
over the lower. This fault in excess 
' makes a dog pig-jawed. The top jaw 

protruding beyond the lower jaw. 

Out at Shoulders. — Shoulders set on out- 
side, as in the Bulldog. 

Out at Elbows. — Elbows turning out. 
10. Pastern. — The lowest section of the leg, 
beloAv the knee or hock respectively, 
usuall}^ only applied to those joints on 
front legs. 

Pig- jawed. — The upper jaw protruding 
over the lower, so that the upper in- 
cisor teeth are in advance of the lower, 
an exaggeration of an over-shot jaw. 

Pily. — A peculiar quality of coat found on 
some dogs, which show on examination 
a short woolly jacket next the skin, out 
of which springs the longer visible 
coat. This short woolly coat is "pily." 
When an ordinary coat is described as 
pily, it means that it is soft and woolly, 
instead of hard. 



TABLE OF TECHNICAL TERMS, ETC. 249 

Prick Ear. — {Sec Tulip ear). An erect 
ear; not turned down or folded. 

Plume. — The tail of a Pomeranian. 

Pad. — The under portion or sole of the 
foot. 

Penciling. — The black marks or streaks 
divided by tan on the toes of a Black- 
and-tan Terrier. 

Rose-ear. — An ear of which the tip turns 
backward and downward, so as to dis- 
close the inside of the ear. 
13. Rump-rone. 

Ring-tail. — A tail curyins: round in circu- 
lar fashion. 

Roach Back or Arched Loins. — The arched 
or wheel formation of loin, as in a 
Greyhound, Dachsliunde, Dandie Din- 
mont Terrier, and Bulldog. 

Racy. — Slioht in build and lei^gy, as in 
the Greyhound or Whippet. 

Septuni. — The division between the nostrils. 
11. Shoulders. — Top of the shoulder-blades, 
the point at which the height of a dog 
is measured. 

Splay-foot. — A flat, awkward front foot, 
usually turned outward; and the op- 
posite of "Cat-foot." 

^^tern. — The tail. 



250 HUNTING DOGS. 

12. Stifle-joints. — Stifles. The joints of 
hind-leg" next above the hocks. 

Stop. — The indentation across the skull 
between the nose and the eyes. This 
feature is strongly developed in Bull- 
dogs, Pugs and short-faced Spaniels, 
and considerably so in many other 
dogs. The step or indentation between 
the forehead and nose. 

Enipy. — Too j)ointed in muzzle. 

Semi-prick Ear. — An erect ear of which 
the end falls over forward. 

Sickle-tall. — A tail forming a semicircle, 
like a sickle. 

Short-coupled. — Short in back and loins. 

SheUij. — Too narrow and light in body. 

Second Th'u/hs. — Tlie muscular develop- 
ment between stifle-joint and hock. 

Style. — ShoAvy, spirited, or gay demeanor. 

Tulip-ear. — An upright or prick ear. 

Topknot. — The hair on top of the head, as 
in the Irish Water Spaniel, Dandie 
Dinmont, and Bedlington Terrier. 

Throatiness. — Overmuch loose skin or flesh 
under throat. 

Ttvist. — The curled tail of a Pug. 

Trace. — The dark mark down the back of 
a Pug. 



TABLE OF TECHNICAL TERMS^ ETC. 251 

TaclxCd-up. — Tuckecl-up loin, as iu the 
Greylioimd. 

Tricolor. — Black, tan and white. 

Thiuah Marks. — The round, black spots 
on tlie forelegs of a Black-and-tan 
Terrier. 

Timher. — Bone. 

Undershot. — The lower incisor teeth, pro- 
jecting beyond the upper, as in Bull- 
dogs. The under jaAV protruding be- 
yond the upper jaw. 

Upright Shoulders. — Shoulders that are 
set in an upright, instead of an oblique 
position ; not laid back. 

Vent. — The tan colored hair below root of 
tail. 

Varmint Expression. — As in the eye of the 
Fox Terrier, which is free from Haw, 
is not Sunken, is round but rather 
small than large, and set horizontally, 
not obliquely, giving a keen, rather 
^^cussed'' look. 

Wall-eye. — A blue mottled eye. 

Wrinkle. — Loose-folding skin over the 
skull. 

Wheaten. — Pale yellowish color, 

Withers. — Same as 11, 




The above illustration shows the front cover of Hunt«r-Trader- 
Trapper, a monthly magazine, published by The A. R. Harding Publish- 
ing Co., Columbus, Ohio, who are also publishers of books on Trapping 
and Out-o-Door Sports, bringing out new ones continually. Their latest 
booklet descriptive of their magazine and books published will be sent free 
upon application. See following pages. 



Hunter 
Trader 



Trapper 



y^S its Name Indicates is a Magazine of Information 
WiM for Hunters, Traders, Trappers and Out-o-Door 
QlJ People. 

If you are interested in hunting, trapping, 
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you will fmd this magazine of interest and value. The 
magazine is published monthly and treats on the fol- 
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iVlink, Fox, Wolf, Marten, Beaver, Otter and Other 
Shy Animals ; Raising Fur Bearing Animals ; Growing 
Ginseng and Golden Seal; Training Night Hunting 
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From Old Hunters and Trappers, etc. 

The Editor is a man of long experience in handling 
raw furs and trapping. The articles published and photos 
used are largely from those who have had actual exper- 
ience with trap, gun and dog— you will enjoy them. 

The magazine contains from 128 to 200 pages each 
month, averaging about 160 each month or 2000 pages 
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The magazine is printed on good quality paper and the 
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TEN CENTS 



A. R. Harding Publishing Co., Columbus, O. 



Land Cruising 
and Prospecting 



nS a valuable book for homesteaders, hunters, trap- 
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XI. 


Poor Man's Ore Mill. 


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The Compass. 


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III. 


Examining and Locat- 


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Corner Marks. 




Cookery. 


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Camp Kits. 




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XVII. 


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straps. 




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XIX. 


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X. 


How to Locate a Claim. 


XX. 


The Red River Trapper 



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A. R. Harding PubHshing Co. : : : Columbus, Ohio 




1 Sewell Newhouse 

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3 A Few Failures 

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5 Proper Sizes 

6 Newhouse Traps 

7 Double and Webbed Jaws 

8 Victor and Hawley &Norton 

9 Jump Traps 

10 Tree Traps 

11 Stop Thief Traps 

12 Wide Spreading Jaws 

13 Caring for Traps 

14 Marking Traps 

15 How to Fasten 

16 How to Set 



No differences what fur bearer y 



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17 Where to Set 

Looking at Traps 
Mysteriously Sprung Traps 
Good Dens 
Tne Proper Bait 
Scent and Decoy 
Human Scent and Sign 
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Land Trapping 
Water Trapping 
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Some Deep Water Sets 
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wish to tr^, best methods of 




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The Box Trap 
The Coop Trap 
The Pit Trap 
Number of Traps 
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Season's Catch 
General Information 
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Building Deadfalls 


15 


8 


Bear and Coon Deadfall 


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Marten Deadfall 


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Stone Deadfall 


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The Bear Pen 


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Portable Traps 


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Some Triggers. 


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Trip Triggers 


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How to Set 


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Traps Knocked Off. 


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General Information. 


13 


My First Fox 


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Baits and Scents. 


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Tennessee Trapper's 


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Foxes and Odor. 




Method. 


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Chaff Method, Scent. 




Many Good Methods. 


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Traps and Hints. 




Fred and The Old Trapper. 
Experienced Trapper Tricks 


6 


All Around Land Set. 




7 


Snow Set. 




Reynard Outwitted. 


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Trapping Red Fox. 




Fox Shooting. 


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Red and Grey. 




A Shrewd Fox. 


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Wire and Twine Snare. 


20 


Still Hunting the Fox. 


11 


Trap, Snare, Shooting and 


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Fox Ranches. 




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Steel Traps. 



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Contains nearly 200 pages and over 50 Illus- 
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1 


General Information. 


11 


Unusual Ways. 


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Mink and Their Habits. 


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Illinois Trapper's Methods. 


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Size and Care of Skins 


13 


Experienced TrappersWays 


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Good and Lasting Baits. 


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Manv Good Methods. 


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Bait and Scent. 


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Salt Set. 


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Places to Set. 


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Log and Other Sets. 


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Indian Methods. 


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Points for the Young Trap- 


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Mink Trapping on the 




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18 


Proper Size Traps. 


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Southern Methods. 


19 


Deadfalls. 


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Northern Methods. 


20 


Steel Traps. 



The methods as published are those of experienced trappers from 
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